Strange and Bizarre Stories From the Police State

"Offered for your consideration" is a handful of stories that are completely unrelated, at first blush. 

First: why is there a secret morgue near Joplin, MO?  Police railroaded a CNN crew away from the place in this video:



Everyone knows there were tornadoes in Joplin and everyone knows there were many victims.  Anyone who thinks about it, and puts in the context of other stories we've heard, knows that there's probably some amount of collecting body parts and trying to match them into sets of remains that can be given an identity.  I'm sure some of the bodies are in a condition that family members wouldn't want pictures of.  But I don't think people want to watch that; I think most people are just curious about the magnitude of the tragedy.  I can understand you don't want cameras in there in respect to the survivors, but to essentially make the entire thing secret?  Why not just have a spokesman outside or in a nearby place to talk with the news media?  This is the sort of total blackout secrecy tactics the CIA and NRO use: just make everything secret.
  

The next story is about the terrible crime of pruning your trees on your own commercial property: 

The church was fined $100 per branch cut for excessive pruning, bringing the violation to $4,000.

$100 per branch?  The "City of Trees" (Charlotte, NC, by the way) will get rid of the fine if they destroy the trees and replace them.  No, really. 

The fine will be dropped if the church replaces each of the improperly pruned trees, said Tom Johnson, senior urban forester for city of Charlotte Land Development Division.

I'm speechless.  So if you let the trees grow back the pruned branches, (which is why you prune a tree, after all) that's a $4000 fine, but if you kill the tree and buy a replacement, that's better?  Did a nursery write this law? 

As Borepatch says, North Carolina used to be a nice place, now it's doing its best to become the Massachusetts of Dixie.

Finally, the story about the Department of Fatherland Security's "Future Crime"-like FAST system is getting wider circulation and made "The Blaze" today.  This is the system that they plan to use at bowl games and other big sporting events that they think are terrorist targets.  Or places to round up Threepers, Bitter Clingers and other anti-regime groups. 

The system strikes me as a lie detector (polygraph) in different clothes.  The way they say it works is to examine your physiological responses and compare it to expected values, which is exactly what a polygraph does.  In other words, like all polygraphs, it works by intimidating you into thinking it works.   

It always struck me as funny that on one hand, the government gave polygraph tests to all sorts of employees, while on the other hand, the three letter agencies were teaching classes in how not to get caught by a polygraph.  "Lie detector" tests are inadmissible in courts because the technology has basically been discredited (summary here - but just Google or Bing "beat polygraph") for more. 

And what do all of these stories have in common?  The Government knows better than you, is there to protect you from yourself, and will send police to enforce that. 

A Day of Remembrance

There has been a lot of talk lately, including here, about the police state we are becoming, or that we are.  Can we agree to put this aside today and pay respect to those who gave their all?  This feeling isn't universal; I even saw a reference - somewhere - that those veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice didn't do that for us, they did it for the government.  They did what they were told.  And that observation was delivered in a way to diminish that sacrifice.

That war is "the extension of politics by other means" is credited to Clausewitz in  the 1800s.  It doesn't take a genius to see the author is right in assertion but terribly wrong overall.  

Yeah, I'm torn up by the murder of Jose Guereno, too.  And, as we've all pointed out, signs of the coming police state are everywhere.  But it's a simple act to pause, pay respect, remember the men of Omaha Beach, Chosin, and Operation Redwing.  That these men were conductors of US foreign policy does nothing to diminish their honor.  They gave their all for the men there with them.  But they gave more.  They gave us the chance to represent them. 

TSA To Oversee High School Prom??

I was just visiting the TSA careers web page, and I didn't see a single item that said you would provide security at high school proms - or, to put a more accurate description on it - not a single thing that said you would pat down high school girls at their prom.  That seems to be the job this month, though.  This is confusing, but apparently Candice Herrera and her sister went to the Capital High School prom and were treated roughly by the security officer at that prom

Candice Herrera said, "She grabbed my breast and grabbed the inner part of my bra and shook it and then picked up the front of my dress to like mid thigh." Herrera said. "She was patting down my bare legs which kind of didn't make sense."

So to ensure rough treatment of high school girls doesn't happen, the Santa Fe school board has hired the TSA to pat down the girls.  

On Friday, the court ordered Santa Fe Public Schools and the security company ASI to provide at least one TSA certified person at the Santa Fe High School prom and the Capital High School graduation.

Oh - the highly professional TSA is being brought in to provide a higher level of ... professionalism?  What could possibly go wrong?  Every single word there is a separate link, and I don't even scratch the surface. 

I Come To You With A Heavy Heart

I believe the recent abandonment of the fourth amendment is causing a cascade failure of the Bill of Rights.  Maybe that's not precisely right, maybe it has nothing to do with the recent court rulings because the BOR has been falling for quite a while now.  But there's a growing feeling it has started. 

John Venlet at Improved Clinch joins several who believe the next civil war has started, and it has come - not surprisingly - on jack boots.

The war of the United States government against the people is an ongoing and expanding action, the current preferred term being a kinetic military action, and this war is being waged on multiple fronts, with casualties on all fronts, though the highest body counts are currently on the domestic, or home front.

As Alan at Snarky Bytes said last week, you know we have problems when the police work under looser rules of engagement than our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  John continues:

Individual Americans are mostly silent in response to the war(s) being waged on them by the government, one could say complicitly silent, even as the war(s) death toll rises.  Why is this?  If Islamic terrorists were killing Americans in their homes, a hue and cry would resound throughout the land, marches would be held, politicians would righteously harrumph, and mainstream media sources would pour rivers of indignant words.  These things are not happening in America in response to the war of the United States government against the people because it is the police who are killing the people under the banner of law and order.  It is because America is become a police state. (emphasis added)

Professionalism fills American Mercenary as he goes through a couple of examples of how one can use open source intelligence to understand their Area of Operation.  Check out the Targeting Packet and the important field of Human Network Analysis. 

There are many open sources of information available today.  Many counties, including the Pima County, have the tax collector's records online.  It's a simple matter to look these up.   

One of John's comments links to this wonderful quote by Jeff Cooper:

“Not long ago it was easy to tell who the bad guys were. They carried Kalashnikovs. Now it is much more complicated, but one thing is sure - any man who covers his face and packs a gun is a legitimate target for any decent citizen.” - Jeff Cooper, June 1993

That cat's lucky they have such good trigger control, I tell you what! At least the cat didn't get shot at 71 times. 

How to Oppose the BATFE Long Gun Sales Proposal

No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money has put up a web page that will allow you to send a form letter to oppose the BATFE requirement that any sale of more than 2 rifles of "22 caliber or larger which use an external magazine" within 5 business days be subject to additional restrictions. 

While I think that a personally written letter has more impact, to quote the saying about automatic fire weapons, "quantity has a quality all of its own". 

My original post on this was missing the important detail of how to comment, so there it is.  Even better, it's an easy to fill out online form, so go do it, and get the word out to all your 2A friends and acquaintances.  Let's letter bomb these mofos. 

It's A Good Thing These People Weren't in Massachusetts

An hour or so south of the castle is sleepy St. Lucie county, where a unique story is reported.  If Massachusetts almost put TJIC away for a bad joke, these folks would be in solitary confinement. 

Officials are investigating a weekend incident during which a man indicated his wife fired an AR-15 rifle at a target inside a master bedroom closet, missing the target and blasting holes in a washing machine.

Now, I gotta tell you something.  I've got an AR or three, and I find the 35 or 40 minute drive to the rifle range somewhat annoying.  I really wish there was something closer, or Florida was like it was when I was 14, and I could just wander around past the end of the road with my rifle and plink at cans.  But I have never, ever thought of putting a target in my closet and shooting it with my AR.

A deputy learned they'd been in the bedroom shooting the target in the closet.

See, up till now, I never thought I would see the words "in the bedroom shooting the target in the closet" in a single sentence.  

"They had done this on multiple occasions," a report states, noting both had been drinking.

And they had been drinking while shooting targets in the closet.  Who would ever guess that alcohol could be involved?

But notice the article concludes this way:

Investigators spoke to a prosecutor and determined no charges would be filed at the time.

Well, to be fair, the LEOs confiscated the dude's three guns "for safe keeping", but I think I would expect that in pretty much every situation where a gun is discharged in a house.  Not saying it's right, but I think if this couple were in The Peoples Republic of Massachusetts or Callie-Fornia, they'd be hanging from a dungeon wall by shackles.

A Dual 1 W Laser? Set Two People on Fire at Once??

Seems like only yesterday, but actually a year ago, I posted about a one watt laser from Wicked Lasers.  It featured warnings it could burn through your skin, set you on fire or blind you instantly. Naturally, everybody wants one.

They're at it again.  This time, the "Sith" (what else?) laser that couples two of those same "Arctic" model 1W lasers into a "Darth Maul" style dual. 

A friend of a friend just ordered one of the Arctic models.  Hopefully, I'll get a look at one without burning off parts of either of our bodies. 

A Rabbit Foot Note

It appears the USDA is caving on the fines.

According to Bob McCarty on BigGovernment.com,

"I base that conclusion on the following e-mail I received late Tuesday afternoon from USDA/APHIS Spokesperson Dave Sacks:

We are working out an alternative to the $90K fine and plan to reach out to Mr. Dollarhite over the next week to discuss. We are hopeful he’ll be amenable to discussing it with us and let us visit his facility as we work the issue out."

Perhaps it was the personal touch of some elected officials (McCarty names a few).  Perhaps it was the planned Anti-tyranny protest this afternoon.  Perhaps it was phone calls or emails from all of the blogs that picked up this story.  Perhaps it was an interesting letter from lawyer Richard L. Anderson of West Branson, who wrote:

 "My client rejects that proposal. I note that a descriptive pamphlet ... that IES “now conducts more than 6,000 cases and collects approximately $ 2 million in civil penalties annually.” That averages a penalty of $ 333.33 per case, and yet you contend it would be appropriate my client tender a penalty of $90,643.00.

Near the end of the letter, he added the following:

I cannot imagine that the actions of Mr. Dollarhite would merit a fine or penalty that would be 272 times larger than what the “average” fine ($ 333) collected by the USDA, IES, APHIS would be, under the circumstances of this case, and would certainly hope that a reasonable hearing examiner would agree."

Good!  It ain't over until it's over, but the Fed.gov extortionists are backing off for now.

We use the name Leviathan for a reason: it's a giant.  More like a Hydra - you cut one head off and another can still kill you.   You have heard of the year long sting operation against an Amish farmer who was selling raw milk - to people who were going out of their way to find it, and paying high prices for it, right? 

A Small, Furry Story From the Police State

I shouldn't joke about this.  Facing a $4 Million dollar fine for selling a few (dozen) bunnies is not funny and could completely ruin this family.  It's not funny.  It's just that it's at least a little better than executing them on the spot, as the police state did with Jose Guerena in Arizona the other day or Erik Scott in the Las Vegas Costco last summer, or (you can insert a list here).

The story is from Bob McCarty on BigGovernment.Com (link just above).  It begins:

...John Dollarhite and his wife Judy of tiny Nixa, Mo., have been told by the USDA that, by Monday, they must pay a fine exceeding $90,000. If they don’t pay that fine, they could face additional fines of almost $4 million. Why? Because they sold more than $500 worth of bunnies — $4,600 worth to be exact — in a single calendar year.

At this point, my chin hits the floor.   Selling $4600 in bunnies warrants a $90,000 fine?  And enough penalties to raise that to $4,000,000 - almost $1000 fine per bunny?

  

The story continues:

By the year’s end, the Dollarhites had moved approximately 440 rabbits and grossed about $4,600 for a profit of approximately $200 — enough, John said, to provide the family “pocket money” to do things such as eat out at Red Lobster once in a while. That was better than the loss they experienced in 2008.

Let me get this straight: they sell 440 rabbits for $200 profit, or under 50 cents each, and somehow that warrants $1000 each in fines?  It's worth reading the whole thing.  Just another example of the worst of what this country has become.  As one commenter put it:

And this is how they do it. By going after the little guy because it's easier to go after a law abiding citizen than to go after a big factory farm with lots of money and lawyers at their disposal.

Another commenter posts the laws, passed in 1989, that stipulates selling over $500 worth of rabbits is a federal offense.   The insanity that is the police state.  

"This Is Freakin' Awesome!!!"

QoTD yesterday, from my number one shooting buddy, Mrs. Graybeard, on shooting her M1 Garand for the first time. 

Just getting a feel for them, loading the en-bloc clip, loading the clip into the rifle, working it for the first time, shooting it for the first time.  Getting a feel for how the sights work at 25 yards.  The whole experience. 

This is her first 8 round clip.  When you discount that one through the Caldwell logo (pushed a little more by the .30-06 then expected), all of them within 3" and progessing toward the center. 

And my first two clips.  Trying to see where the post lines up on the target, and refining POA. 

I'll call it benchrest shooting because of the front support we have for the gun.  No use of a sling, standing sitting or prone.  Sitting on something chair-like.  But not those fancy benchrests that immobilize the gun  The gun is capable of moving, so it's more like leaning the barrel on a tree branch.  One of these - doesn't clamp on, just a better thing to lean on than your arm. 

Thoughts I Didn't Get To This Week

I talked about Obama's stupid policy towards Israel the other day.  I see it as the US abandoning Israel.  Caroline Glick sees it as Obama's Abandonment of America and raises some interesting points.  Here's one we absolutely agree on:

AS FOR ISRAEL, in a way, Obama did Israel a favor by giving this speech. By abandoning even a semblance of friendliness, he has told us that we have nothing whatsoever to gain by trying to make him like us.

It's a final cutoff, telling Israel to go pound sand.

Something to bear in mind is that if this is truly God at work, it doesn't matter what we do - if the US is for or against Israel.  It's His call.  It may be that Israel needs to be sifted (Luke 22:31).  It may be that the US needs to be sifted.  The Bible is nothing if not a collection of stories of the Jews (as models of all of us) falling away, and having to be punished, then put back on the right track.

In the wake of the death of the 4th amendment (Indiana and then the Supremes themselves) something has been bothering me, and my wife put it into perspective.  There is now no way to pass the Jews in the Attic Test. 

I haven't commented on the murder of Jose Guerena, but Sheriff Douchebag, um, Dipshit,... um Dupnik in Arizona has really raised a lot of hackles.  I'd bet there's at least ten thousand people in this country who would take him out, given half a chance.   Yes, this is the same Sheriff Dipshit who blamed the shooting of Congress Critter Giffords on the "vitriolic rhetoric" of the right.  I'm sure his crack swat team shooting an innocent Marine veteran 70-frickin' times is someone elses' fault, too.  Gonna blame this one on Rush, too, Dipshit?  I'm with RTC on this one.

This case is bullcrap from top to bottom.  Kill a guy who never took his gun off safety with 71 shots, then deliberately keep the paramedics from treating him until he dies because everyone know "dead men tell no tales"?  And then try to frame him?  Screw impeachment or recall.  This sheriff needs to be in jail.  This is the worst of what America is turning into. 

Adding Barterable Skills

Over the last week or so, I've made another knife.  It's a very easy kit, that I got from Premium Knife Supply, from a listing on eBay.  They call it their S11 "Hawkbill" or pruning knife.  Got the blade for considerably less than their buy it now prices - $6.50, if I recall correctly.  For a while, you can look at one here.  Visitors to the archives will have to go search eBay. 

When the blade arrives, it's abrasive-blasted or finished to something like 80 or 120 grit abrasive.  I decided I didn't like the look and wanted to sand it and polish it.  That was an intensive job!  The steel they use is very hard and the pits from the abrasive are very deep.  Although I got a decent finish on it, it still bears marks from the sandblasting.  Then I tried to drill a 3/16" hole near the big finger hole to run some cord through, and ruined some HSS drill bits.  They barely made a mark on the steel this is made from.  The only thing I had that would drill that steel was a carbide masonry bit, and you should have seen the smoking chips fly!  I imagine a good quality carbide steel drill, or perhaps really high cobalt steel, would do. 

Polishing it was a little tricky with the curved shape, but it came out wicked sharp. 

The paracord handle is the first time I've done anything with the stuff.  Nice thing about paracord is I can take it apart and try it again later.  At first, I was going to use stones, like the knife I did last summer, but thought I'd try to learn how use paracord.  I have made fishing rods before, and the ways you treat paracord are pretty similar to the way you treat the rod-winding thread.  Only paracord is about 100 times thicker. 

So color me still learning.  Always room to learn, right?  "I'll trade you a big Bowie knife for one of your chickens". 

What Is The Proper Role of a Patriot?

Anonymous commenter last night/this morning (1:45 EDT) posted this thought-provoking comment:

“Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong”

— Stephen Decatur

Elections have consequences. Obama won the Presidency. He is our President. Not saying that this shouldn't be an issue in the 2012 campaign. Sure it should be.

But until then America needs to support the President and this policy. EVEN IF IT IS WRONG!

To do less makes one a traitor!

One of the things I've always admired about the military is that when the president changes, they take down the old portrait, hang up the new one, and get on with the job.  I recall saying almost those exact words to a technician working with/for me just after the inauguration in '09.  I will salute the new guy, and get on with life. 

But is this correct?  Are we under no obligation other than "our country, right or wrong"?   Does all politics stop at the water's edge?  It was only a few years ago, under W Bush, that the left was saying "dissent is the highest form of patriotism".  Hillary Clinton famously gave a talk where she said just that in those legendary dulcet tones of hers...

Today, of course, dissent is treasonous.  I am not putting words into my commenter's mouth (or keyboard, as the case may be) and implying they're saying anyone who protests the administration is a traitor.  For all I know this person is to the right of Genghis, or even Sylvia, Kahn (obscure reference!) and believes the only proper response is to wait for the next election.

Perhaps the best illustration of how differently dissent is handled is how virtually identical political images of W and Obama were reacted to so completely differently.  In this image, the one on top was in Atlantic magazine and praised as brilliant, while the one on the bottom was condemned with every level of vitriol imaginable.

An analogy:  I've worked for my current employer for 15 years.  Over those years, I think I've demonstrated my loyalty to them.  But we make safety critical systems, where a bad design decision that gets out in a product could kill hundreds of people at a time, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.  What if I see the project leaders making a decision that my years of experience says is dangerously stupid?  I have an ethical, moral and legal duty that exceeds loyalty to the company and I need to point out the mistake.  Let's take it farther: let's say I tell them they're doing something that can get people killed and the leader ignores me.  What then?  What if I go through every level in the company and nothing gets changed?  If I'm convinced by my analysis that they are doing the wrong thing, and the company will do nothing about it, I am obligated to either accept it (that is, be complicit) or leave.  Love it or leave it.

To drive home the point, it's the same thing with our nation.  I think it's our duty, when we see the servants we elect to do our work do that work in a patently stupid and potentially deadly way, we have an obligation to point out the mistake.  You can rest assured that my ramblings do not end here, when I believe bad policy decisions are being made.  Unlike my employer, the option to leave is not really there. 

In the wake of the police raid that took blogger TJIC off the net, I wrote:

The founding fathers, after all, were in armed rebellion against the legal government they were living under, right?  They were British citizens shooting British citizens.  Unless you are of the belief that no system of government is ever so oppressive or so tyrannical as to need to be overthrown, you must agree that (TJIC's) is not an unreasonable opinion. (emphasis added this time - GB) 

The word patriot has the Latin root patria - country or "fatherland".  The modern definition is "one who loves and zealously supports and defends his or her country".  The modern patriot movement may well love, and zealously support a country that doesn't exist anymore. In the words of this famous video, "This is America! - It Ain't no more".

Edit 2125  Inadvertently used an HTML tag in the quote and words disappeared!

The Prez Smacks Down Israel - Abandons Another Staunch Ally

The same president that insulted and alienated Great Britain and has done his best to alienate and insult other allies just can't break his mind away from the anti-colonialist drivel  from his father and sides with the Palestinians over Israel. 

WSRA Links to Ann's latest, but she always said anything she posts is wide open to copy, so I could do worse than copy her here:

Obama Trying His Damndest to Start WW3

Posted by Ann Barnhardt - May 19, AD 2011 11:57 AM MST

 

Okay. Here's what you need to understand about what Obama just did. He said that there needs to be a Palestinian State based upon the pre-1967 borders. This isn't just throwing Israel under the bus, this is throwing Israel into the woodchipper. This is like saying that the U.S. needs to return to the 1802 borders. Wait . . . no one give him any ideas about that. I'm sure Obama would be tickled to death with that.

Benjamin Netanyahu is en route to the U.S. and is scheduled to give a speech to a joint session of Congress. Obama has just chop-blocked one of our staunchest allies. Further, what Obama is really doing is inciting and inflaming anti-Israel sentiment on the Muslim street, which is already wildly destabilized. He is throwing gas on the fire.

Here is what they are trying to do. If Israel does not now FULLY surrender to the pre-1967 borders, the muslims will use this as an excuse to riot and eventually attack - because they now have the EXPLICIT BLESSING of the POTUS to do so. Obama/Soros has given the Caliphate a central rallying point. In the name of "human rights", Obama/Soros is setting up a chessboard whereby a U.S./U.N. occupation of Israel will be "needed" to "enforce" the 1967 borders. If Israel tries to defend itself against muslim aggression - which remember has been agitated by Obama himself - or defend its sovereign territory, Obama/Soros will cast these actions of Israeli self-defense and self-preservation as "human rights violations" and move in. DO WE NOW FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE PURPOSE OF THE LIBYAN ACTION WAS? It was simply to establish a precedent. Bishop to e6.

If I may be so bold, Netanyahu needs to take a page out of my playbook. He needs to give Obama the @$$kicking of a lifetime in his address to Congress. These Obama/Soros people are common gutter-scum street thugs, and need to be treated accordingly. TAKE OFF THE GLOVES AND BRING THE BEAT-DOWN. Because it is either that, or World War 3.



The extreme left: the Bill Ayers/Michael Moore/Ward Churchill types - all follow this script that every social interaction in the world is between oppressor and victim, never between equal independent agents acting in what they feel is, if not their absolute best interest, a reasonable exchange.  This is the toxic rhetoric they spew All The Time.  Naturally, the '50s-era anti-colonialist that Obama is channeling will see Israel this way, just as he sees the US this way.  If Ann got anything wrong in that, it was the reference to taking the US back to the 1802 borders.  I think they want to take the US apart.  Maybe back to the 1602 borders. 

To quote Dinesh D'Souza,

We are today living out the script for America and the world that was dreamt up not by Obama but by Obama's father. How do I know this? Because Obama says so himself. Reflect for a moment on the title of his book: it's not Dreams of My Father but rather Dreams from My Father. In other words, Obama is not writing a book about his father's dreams; he is writing a book about the dreams that he got from his father. (GB - bold added )

Think about what this means. The most powerful country in the world is being governed according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s — a polygamist who abandoned his wives, drank himself into stupors, and bounced around on two iron legs (after his real legs had to be amputated because of a car crash caused by his drunk driving). This philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anti-colonial ambitions, is now setting the nation's agenda through the reincarnation of his dreams in his son. The son is the one who is making it happen, but the son is, as he candidly admits, only living out his father's dream. The invisible father provides the inspiration, and the son dutifully gets the job done. America today is being governed by a ghost.

Well, Isn't That Garand!

Yup.  They came today.  The Gods of the CMP and their acolytes at FedEx delivered two beautiful Service Grade M1 Garands today.  The setup for this was back around April 15th (Buy a Gun Day), actually almost a week later, and here they are, not a full month since we mailed off the forms.  On top of that, they are prettier than I thought they'd be.  I expected to have to do a fair amount of work, perhaps refinishing the stock and so on.  Instead, they look like we could take them shooting now, with no work.  Or maybe this weekend.

I know in today's world, "without pictures, it didn't happen", so less yappin', more double-tappin'!

As they arrive, nice hard plastic case, manual, chamber flag, one en-bloc clip, Certificate of Authenticity and a target.  Pretty sweet, huh?

Funny, I always got there by http://odcmp.com/Sales/rifles.htm but the one on the case works, too.

Eye candy or what? ...

Yup, I Photoshopped (well, Gimped) the serial number away.  I understand that's a good thing. A cursory search of some online serial numbers says these were made in 1955.  So post Korean War by a little while, way before Viet Nam. 

I have to say I'm really happy with the CMP - Anniston office.  They got the rifles here faster than promised, and they're in excellent condition.  Compared to the conditions and prices I see at local gun shows, I should have done this before!

You Know The Dollar is Trash

You know the dollar is trash when Zimbabwe wants to get out of the dollar and into a gold standard.

Srsly.  You can't make this stuff up. 

Topping off a weekend of surreal news is the announcement from the Central Bank of Zimbabwe that the country is now evaluating introducing a gold-backed Zimbabwean dollar, and, in keeping with the Salvador Dali feel to the past 48 hours, that the "days of the US dollar as the world's reserve currency are numbered." Yes. Zimbabwe, the same place that two years ago sported a brand new crisp Z$100 trillion bill.

H/T ZeroHedge via Survivalblog.

Toward Resilient Communities

When I first read Rob at Global Guerrillas talking about resilient communities, I didn't have the foggiest idea what he meant.  In the intervening couple of years, a picture has formed in my mind and then been gradually refined. 

I think the ideas in this video fit the concept quite well.  Check it out. 

Congratulations, We're Officially Broke

So we officially hit the debt ceiling this afternoon, and are now officially not allowed to borrow any more.  I went to the debt clock to see if the numbers had stopped rolling up, but they haven't. 

So where does the Fed.gov leviathan get the money to keep spending?  Expect to see more headlines like "Treasury to tap pensions to help fund government".  This is the Federal Government Employees pension funds they're raiding, and they pinky-promise they're going to pay it back.  Actually, if there's one group you're sure they will pay it's themselves, so, yeah, I believe that.  That WaPo article has a great graphic showing the history of the debt ceilings and the national debt.  Golly, it sure has been effective at keeping the debt down, hasn't it?

As Beck likes to say, "In a totally unrelated story".... the acting Solicitor General for the US, Neal Kumar Katyal, said that the Federal government has absolutely no limits to its power.  If the Indiana "no right to resist illegal arrest" case destroys the 4th amendment, then Katyal destroys the rest of the nine enumerated rights.  In particular, in defending the government's "right" to force you to buy health insurance, he said they could force you to buy anything. 

The court asked if the mandate to buy insurance would apply to anything...

"You think if the court had required people to buy wheat, it would have turned out the same?'

Katyal didn't want to answer the question, so the court pushed him.  He said,

"Could they possibly require the purchase of wheat?" he said. "The answer is yes."

[opposition lawyer] Staver explained, for example, that everyone eats, so the precedent could allow the government to require consumers to purchase certain foods or ban them from purchasing others. Or, it could make them pay whether they eat those products or not. [emphasis added - GB]

Obviously a government like that, a government that can require you to do anything, buy anything, eat (or not eat) anything; a government without limits requires a budget without limits.  They can just make up money out of thin air to spend and it will have no drawbacks at all.

(h/t Improved Clinch) 

Odds and Ends Round Up - An Occasional Series

While putting off some work I need to get started on, a few things to pass along:

Thanks to a link at Bayou Renaissance Man I've discovered a new blog worth reading, Curmudgeon With a Gun (whose real URL is pretty cool).  He, in turn linked to a place I go on occasion, Bare Naked Islam's story about an anonymous letter going around.  It pledges massive jihad attacks on June 8.   Probably trying to look scary, but, as always, keep armed and be prepared.  It's a long rant, but worth reading just to show what we're dealing with:

Since 2006 we have collected more than 6,236 tonnes of (now dried and finely pulverized) pure fuel rods and Pu derivatives.  With loyal cooperation of many Muslim technicians and truck driver teams we have perfected the ultimate deception. In only four years we have successfully coordinated the exchanged of identically welded and labeled stainless steel canisters containing beach sand of exact weight, for the original RBMK, CANDU, PWR, QUADRISO and BWR waste canisters being delivered to Sellafield, La Hague and Yucca Mountain. The techniques we still employ are derived from an incredible “disappearance” trick purchased from Muslim magic show professionals in Las Vegas in April 2005 and magiclegends online in 2010.  Holy Qur’an 20:[68]

Yeah, right.  All a snack bar - whatever.   Derka derka derka. 

More evidence the European Union is headed for the proverbial "dustbin of history".  Putting borders and passport checks back up.  Next will be currency.

The National Inflation Association has released a video they've been working on for quite a while, The College Conspiracy, currently on top of their video page.  We've chatted here and here about college turning into a bad investment, and some of the financial realities.  They spend much more time and go deeper. They get a neat phrase from Gerald Celente, "degrees in worthlessness" - the "insert-oppressed-minority studies" programs.  And more. 

The flood from the Mississippi are worsening.  The link I posted the other day shows the projected flood at Natchez is getting worse.  It is already the worst flood on record.  Pray for those folks.  It wouldn't hurt to stock a little more food.

Both silver and gold have basically had a net sideways move since we last talked about it.  Up then down then up.  Thursday morning it almost hit my "back up the truck" moment - $30/oz - but it didn't.  I still see this as a tremendous buying opportunity.   A time may be coming when there are two prices for silver; the spot price and what you really pay at any dealer.  Right now, for instance, a US silver eagle is going to set you back about $5 over spot - more than 10%.  The big traders are selling futures and may never actually get silver in hand.  The restrictions on traders appears to be the reason for the market correction.  I can't say strongly enough that I don't think paper trading is good for us 'normal folk'.

For another example, on Apmex's silver coin page, a roll of $5 worth of average condition junk silver dimes will cost you $157.23.  The way I figure it, spot price would be $126.95, so they're getting almost 25% more than spot.  Does this reflect a premium for the coin or condition?  "BU" (brilliant, uncirculated) dimes are more, but their pure random-selection $100 or more bags are closer to spot price.   

I say get silver you can keep your hands on, not paper.   And, as always, the four Bs. 

Quote of the Day

About the BATFE, "That bunch has a real corner on stupid" - Tom Edwards, County Attorney, Motley County, Texas.  

Seems the BATFE decided to blow up some old explosives. In Texas, where there's a bit of a wildfire problem.  To further quote Edwards,

"We had high winds, we're under a burn ban because of extensive prairie fires, brush fires, and in they rolled with the idea of blowing up things."

"Unfortunately, a fragment ignited some grass," Crowley said.

I assume you've heard that back in April, Governor Perry asked the Feds for Texas to be declared a disaster area for their wildfires, and aid was turned down this week.  But the same Fed.gov sent aid to Mexico for help with their wildfires.

The Obama Administration sent aid to Mexico to battle a 386 square mile fire but refused to consider the 2.5 million acre fire in Texas a disaster area.

A fine example of Obama politics.  Texas didn't vote for him in '08, so screw 'em, let 'em pay for their own damned fires.  Might interfere with another lavish White House party.