THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.
In the form of many people
In all panoplies of time
Have I seen the luring vision
Of the Victory Maid, sublime.
I have battled for fresh mammoth,
I have warred for pastures new,
I have listed to the whispers
When the race trek instinct grew.
I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.
I have sinned and I have suffered,
Played the hero and the knave;
Fought for belly, shame, or country,
And for each have found a grave.
I cannot name my battles
For the visions are not clear,
Yet, I see the twisted faces
And I feel the rending spear.
Perhaps I stabbed our Savior
In His sacred helpless side.
Yet, I've called His name in blessing
When after times I died.
In the dimness of the shadows
Where we hairy heathens warred,
I can taste in thought the lifeblood;
We used teeth before the sword.
While in later clearer vision
I can sense the coppery sweat,
Feel the pikes grow wet and slippery
When our Phalanx, Cyrus met.
Hear the rattle of the harness
Where the Persian darts bounced clear,
See their chariots wheel in panic
From the Hoplite's leveled spear.
See the goal grow monthly longer,
Reaching for the walls of Tyre.
Hear the crash of tons of granite,
Smell the quenchless eastern fire.
Still more clearly as a Roman,
Can I see the Legion close,
As our third rank moved in forward
And the short sword found our foes.
Once again I feel the anguish
Of that blistering treeless plain
When the Parthian showered death bolts,
And our discipline was in vain.
I remember all the suffering
Of those arrows in my neck.
Yet, I stabbed a grinning savage
As I died upon my back.
Once again I smell the heat sparks
When my Flemish plate gave way
And the lance ripped through my entrails
As on Crecy's field I lay.
In the windless, blinding stillness
Of the glittering tropic sea
I can see the bubbles rising
Where we set the captives free.
Midst the spume of half a tempest
I have heard the bulwarks go
When the crashing, point blank round shot
Sent destruction to our foe.
I have fought with gun and cutlass
On the red and slippery deck
With all Hell aflame within me
And a rope around my neck.
And still later as a General
Have I galloped with Murat
When we laughed at death and numbers
Trusting in the Emperor's Star.
Till at last our star faded,
And we shouted to our doom
Where the sunken road of Ohein
Closed us in it's quivering gloom.
So but now with Tanks a'clatter
Have I waddled on the foe
Belching death at twenty paces,
By the star shell's ghastly glow.
So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.
And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,
But as God rules o'er our bickerings
It was through His will I fought.
So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more.
Monday, February 22, 2010
TEOTWAWKI Something Else To Consider
FROM THE "Life After the Oil Crash Forum" by moabmic
MZB! Those three letters are enough to put a healthy dose of doom-enriched fear into any well prepped doomer right? It took me a while just to learn what those letters meant; when I did finally look them up in the acronym appendix of the doomer's bible I was silent. Mutant-Zombie-Bikers? What kind of fantasy freak group was I associating myself with? I just disliked the term because I couldn't get over the strange thoughts being conjured up in my head of a pack of deranged bikers on dirt bikes, old Harley's, quads, you name it with bleeding flesh and hollowed eyes all coming to attack us after a collapse. We would be all snug and happy in our doomsteads and BOLs but these MZBs would seek us out to destroy us. So yeah, I just couldn't deal with the term and didn't care for it much because it was too abstract and unrealistic.
As time went on and my doomerish view of the world became more and more into focus I kept revisiting the MZB concept. What if the zombie in them didn't refer to some ghoulish character but rather someone who had lost everything and gained the 100 yard stare? Someone who has lost all sense of purpose but still feels the need to move forward? What if the mutant part referred to the transformation some unprepared over-suburbanized schmuck goes through as they realize everything they had worked for, all their competing with the Jones', all their mass consuming waste was all for naught and now had nowhere to go, nothing to live off of, and no knowledge of how to begin to survive? What if the biker part didn’t represent the biker gangs of today but rather the same misguided victim of suburbia taking their hobby bike with the last bit of gas and hitting the road in search of food for their overweight, weak, and defenseless family to never return? What if a MZB is simply a former misguided suburbia rat who is now discovering what it means to live and is angry at himself, angry at the world, and especially angry at those who are living a more comfortable post-collapse existence because they were prepared?
As we move closer to the point where a total societal breakdown occurs one way or another it will become very apparent who is prepared and who isn’t. My head has been filled with fantasies that when the day comes when anarchy dominates over civilized life that those who weren’t prepared would be begging for help, doing anything they could to survive, but for the most part not resorting to violence. I stand corrected.
A casual dinner visit with some close friends was my point of awakening to how ugly everything will be. We were having beers and discussing how we keep getting warning article after warning article but nothing ever happens. Something commonly discussed here. We are tired of the warnings; we are tired of prepping for something that will never come; we are starting to not believe that there will be a collapse. At this point the brother of my friends comes in. He had been a former employee of mine during a construction project five years ago. During that there had been a conflict whereas he thought he was owed more for his efforts than we had paid him (bonus pay). Over the years it had seemed this rift had healed. He joined the conversation and then boldly stated, “if there is a day like you guys describe then I’ll just hit the road and take whatever the f*** I want. I’ll finally get to get back all that the rich f***s like you have taken from me! F*** you rich bastards! You guys have only gotten ahead because of the sweat from people like me! The day you describe when payback will finally be here!”
We just sat there stunned! I had never considered myself rich. I had started my business with maxing out one credit card, buying used salvage equip and rehabbing it, and sold off all my furniture to buy opening inventory. I worked over 80 hours a week for the first several years while working another full time job. For all of the risk, hard work, and sacrifice for 10 years we make a nice comfortable living; my friends I was visiting had worked equally hard towards becoming a professor. All this time my friends brother was partying, in and out of jail, playing, playing, playing but now as he has nothing and we are comfortable there is an incredible anger and rage within him! Behold the birth of a MZB!
I don’t know why but that moment brought together a flood of memories over the past few years of isolated events that I put no thought into. Working in the garden while a pickup truck of loud and obviously drunk guys driving by along the irrigation ditch road, as I looked up they flipped us off yelling obscenities; being threatened by employees that were being fired; being flipped off and cussed at by the low rider crowd (Bienvendos a Nuevo Mexico). All of a sudden what I thought were isolated incidents of angry individuals not to be taken seriously transformed into everything I thought that MZBs could never be.
The day is coming when the collapse does occur and that day will represent freedom by all those who have not prepared and those who have not been fortunate to make it. That day will represent the day that they can begin exchanging their anger for all the pieces we prepared ones have carefully put away safe and sound. There will be no begging for help by those angry hordes; we will be the ones begging for mercy as we give up all we worked so hard for and thoughtfully put away. These people who you see now at the bar at 5, those people you see wasting their few dollars on the bread and circus shows like Nascar races, football games, strip clubs, malls; those people that have invested more money into their vehicles than their vehicles are worth with stereos, chromed rims, oversized exhausts, etc.; it is these people that are the ones who we will be fearing. They have been undergoing a professional training in instant gratification and the day of collapse will be the moment when the supermall of mass instant gratification opens its doors: That supermall will the homes of the prepared.
Are you ready for that day? I know I’m not. I have plenty of supplies, firearms and ammo, water, fuel, you name it but I am not ready to defend it from masses of the angry hordes staking claims on all we have worked for. The day I saw the rage in my friends face I realized I wasn’t ready. I had considered needing to defend myself from some abstract threat as foreign and vague as the term MutantZombieBiker; I hadn’t considered needing to defend myself from what I bet is 85% of the mass population.
What happens when collapse comes and total anarchy let’s go and you are one out of 10 families who is prepared and able to be comfortable. My 6+months of food, water, fuel, ammo will be taken by force and I will only be hoping that my family isn’t brutalized. Take a piece of paper; make a grid of 3 dots by 3 dots. The dot in the center is you; the dots surrounding you are your unprepared neighbors who have always waved hello but who now realize you have what they need and are pissed off that you unfairly sacrificed your wages and effort to be prepared while they partied and played. You will not hold these people off at bay whether you are surrounded by 10 acres or are smack in the middle of suburbia. The only way you stand a chance is to begin converting those surrounding dots into equally prepared families who will stand strong with you. The problem is that each one of those families will have friends or families who will ultimately not have any preps and will come to claim their share and consequently part of your stores.
In the past year I have moved from NM to a smaller CO town. I was on the verge of making a decision on buying a property. One is 40 acres right on the edge of town but with a running water source and good farmable land. The other is 5 acres and a nice house with greenhouses shops, a creek, and several outbuildings where a doomer could survive so easily but is right in town. The third is 40 acres on the backside of a mountain overlooking town and has no running water, is completely undeveloped, 4wd access, and surrounded by eight other 40 acre parcels. One realization I had, is that those unprepared masses , are inherently lazy; they are unprepared because they refused to put in the extra effort to become prepared. It is the ant vs. grasshopper fable in the classic sense except the grasshopper will be armed and will outnumber the ant 1:10. By being on either of the first two locations I will be easily accessible by all but the absolute laziest ones. The running water on those two properties will also attract people. I have decided on the remote 40 acres (:30 4wd drive but only a :15 mt bike ride from town).
It will be a lot harder to make an ideal doomstead but there won’t be any running water for people to follow, it will take a lot of physical effort, my preps will be hidden and the surrounding 40 acres properties are owned by similar doomer folks. Let the MZBs come because the advantage will be belonged to me. It is impractical to live there full time with kids in school and businesses to run but as part of the plan we will live in a plain, old small, non-fancy, house in town; I realize that by living in a home equal to what I can afford I make myself and family a target. By living in the smallest home we can fit in and having zero preps visible we can let our friends and family wonder why we live so insanely modest. On weekends and days when we have time we stay at the retreat home which will be 100% off grid and will contain everything needed to be self sufficient for a minimum of 6 months.
There is an unfathomable amount of anger and bitterness in all of our communities. Other terms thrown out that evening in the conversation were that people who were prepped are “elitists”, “better than others”, “you can only prep if you are a rich f***”, “we [bro & his buddies] can’t wait to show who will be the new boss in town”, “a new sheriff will be in town”; you all get the drift. The Mutant Zombie Bikers are alive and well and I know I have grossly underestimated their threat. Have you?
I have a stepson that would probably fall into that MZB group if things really got bad. I had not considered the expontital increase of the thug and criminals group after TEOTWAWKI. Stoneknives
MZB! Those three letters are enough to put a healthy dose of doom-enriched fear into any well prepped doomer right? It took me a while just to learn what those letters meant; when I did finally look them up in the acronym appendix of the doomer's bible I was silent. Mutant-Zombie-Bikers? What kind of fantasy freak group was I associating myself with? I just disliked the term because I couldn't get over the strange thoughts being conjured up in my head of a pack of deranged bikers on dirt bikes, old Harley's, quads, you name it with bleeding flesh and hollowed eyes all coming to attack us after a collapse. We would be all snug and happy in our doomsteads and BOLs but these MZBs would seek us out to destroy us. So yeah, I just couldn't deal with the term and didn't care for it much because it was too abstract and unrealistic.
As time went on and my doomerish view of the world became more and more into focus I kept revisiting the MZB concept. What if the zombie in them didn't refer to some ghoulish character but rather someone who had lost everything and gained the 100 yard stare? Someone who has lost all sense of purpose but still feels the need to move forward? What if the mutant part referred to the transformation some unprepared over-suburbanized schmuck goes through as they realize everything they had worked for, all their competing with the Jones', all their mass consuming waste was all for naught and now had nowhere to go, nothing to live off of, and no knowledge of how to begin to survive? What if the biker part didn’t represent the biker gangs of today but rather the same misguided victim of suburbia taking their hobby bike with the last bit of gas and hitting the road in search of food for their overweight, weak, and defenseless family to never return? What if a MZB is simply a former misguided suburbia rat who is now discovering what it means to live and is angry at himself, angry at the world, and especially angry at those who are living a more comfortable post-collapse existence because they were prepared?
As we move closer to the point where a total societal breakdown occurs one way or another it will become very apparent who is prepared and who isn’t. My head has been filled with fantasies that when the day comes when anarchy dominates over civilized life that those who weren’t prepared would be begging for help, doing anything they could to survive, but for the most part not resorting to violence. I stand corrected.
A casual dinner visit with some close friends was my point of awakening to how ugly everything will be. We were having beers and discussing how we keep getting warning article after warning article but nothing ever happens. Something commonly discussed here. We are tired of the warnings; we are tired of prepping for something that will never come; we are starting to not believe that there will be a collapse. At this point the brother of my friends comes in. He had been a former employee of mine during a construction project five years ago. During that there had been a conflict whereas he thought he was owed more for his efforts than we had paid him (bonus pay). Over the years it had seemed this rift had healed. He joined the conversation and then boldly stated, “if there is a day like you guys describe then I’ll just hit the road and take whatever the f*** I want. I’ll finally get to get back all that the rich f***s like you have taken from me! F*** you rich bastards! You guys have only gotten ahead because of the sweat from people like me! The day you describe when payback will finally be here!”
We just sat there stunned! I had never considered myself rich. I had started my business with maxing out one credit card, buying used salvage equip and rehabbing it, and sold off all my furniture to buy opening inventory. I worked over 80 hours a week for the first several years while working another full time job. For all of the risk, hard work, and sacrifice for 10 years we make a nice comfortable living; my friends I was visiting had worked equally hard towards becoming a professor. All this time my friends brother was partying, in and out of jail, playing, playing, playing but now as he has nothing and we are comfortable there is an incredible anger and rage within him! Behold the birth of a MZB!
I don’t know why but that moment brought together a flood of memories over the past few years of isolated events that I put no thought into. Working in the garden while a pickup truck of loud and obviously drunk guys driving by along the irrigation ditch road, as I looked up they flipped us off yelling obscenities; being threatened by employees that were being fired; being flipped off and cussed at by the low rider crowd (Bienvendos a Nuevo Mexico). All of a sudden what I thought were isolated incidents of angry individuals not to be taken seriously transformed into everything I thought that MZBs could never be.
The day is coming when the collapse does occur and that day will represent freedom by all those who have not prepared and those who have not been fortunate to make it. That day will represent the day that they can begin exchanging their anger for all the pieces we prepared ones have carefully put away safe and sound. There will be no begging for help by those angry hordes; we will be the ones begging for mercy as we give up all we worked so hard for and thoughtfully put away. These people who you see now at the bar at 5, those people you see wasting their few dollars on the bread and circus shows like Nascar races, football games, strip clubs, malls; those people that have invested more money into their vehicles than their vehicles are worth with stereos, chromed rims, oversized exhausts, etc.; it is these people that are the ones who we will be fearing. They have been undergoing a professional training in instant gratification and the day of collapse will be the moment when the supermall of mass instant gratification opens its doors: That supermall will the homes of the prepared.
Are you ready for that day? I know I’m not. I have plenty of supplies, firearms and ammo, water, fuel, you name it but I am not ready to defend it from masses of the angry hordes staking claims on all we have worked for. The day I saw the rage in my friends face I realized I wasn’t ready. I had considered needing to defend myself from some abstract threat as foreign and vague as the term MutantZombieBiker; I hadn’t considered needing to defend myself from what I bet is 85% of the mass population.
What happens when collapse comes and total anarchy let’s go and you are one out of 10 families who is prepared and able to be comfortable. My 6+months of food, water, fuel, ammo will be taken by force and I will only be hoping that my family isn’t brutalized. Take a piece of paper; make a grid of 3 dots by 3 dots. The dot in the center is you; the dots surrounding you are your unprepared neighbors who have always waved hello but who now realize you have what they need and are pissed off that you unfairly sacrificed your wages and effort to be prepared while they partied and played. You will not hold these people off at bay whether you are surrounded by 10 acres or are smack in the middle of suburbia. The only way you stand a chance is to begin converting those surrounding dots into equally prepared families who will stand strong with you. The problem is that each one of those families will have friends or families who will ultimately not have any preps and will come to claim their share and consequently part of your stores.
In the past year I have moved from NM to a smaller CO town. I was on the verge of making a decision on buying a property. One is 40 acres right on the edge of town but with a running water source and good farmable land. The other is 5 acres and a nice house with greenhouses shops, a creek, and several outbuildings where a doomer could survive so easily but is right in town. The third is 40 acres on the backside of a mountain overlooking town and has no running water, is completely undeveloped, 4wd access, and surrounded by eight other 40 acre parcels. One realization I had, is that those unprepared masses , are inherently lazy; they are unprepared because they refused to put in the extra effort to become prepared. It is the ant vs. grasshopper fable in the classic sense except the grasshopper will be armed and will outnumber the ant 1:10. By being on either of the first two locations I will be easily accessible by all but the absolute laziest ones. The running water on those two properties will also attract people. I have decided on the remote 40 acres (:30 4wd drive but only a :15 mt bike ride from town).
It will be a lot harder to make an ideal doomstead but there won’t be any running water for people to follow, it will take a lot of physical effort, my preps will be hidden and the surrounding 40 acres properties are owned by similar doomer folks. Let the MZBs come because the advantage will be belonged to me. It is impractical to live there full time with kids in school and businesses to run but as part of the plan we will live in a plain, old small, non-fancy, house in town; I realize that by living in a home equal to what I can afford I make myself and family a target. By living in the smallest home we can fit in and having zero preps visible we can let our friends and family wonder why we live so insanely modest. On weekends and days when we have time we stay at the retreat home which will be 100% off grid and will contain everything needed to be self sufficient for a minimum of 6 months.
There is an unfathomable amount of anger and bitterness in all of our communities. Other terms thrown out that evening in the conversation were that people who were prepped are “elitists”, “better than others”, “you can only prep if you are a rich f***”, “we [bro & his buddies] can’t wait to show who will be the new boss in town”, “a new sheriff will be in town”; you all get the drift. The Mutant Zombie Bikers are alive and well and I know I have grossly underestimated their threat. Have you?
I have a stepson that would probably fall into that MZB group if things really got bad. I had not considered the expontital increase of the thug and criminals group after TEOTWAWKI. Stoneknives
Monday, February 1, 2010
Walking Piece of Human Excrement --- Lane Kiffin
I'm a VOL ( fan of the University of Tennessee) living down in Gay-Tor and Bull's Country and a friend ( a huge Gay-Tor fan ) passed this news piece on to me.
As the Derek Dooley era begins at the University of Tennessee, one Volunteer fan is offering up a lasting parting shot to Coach Lane Kiffin.
Knoxville attorney Drew McElroy has filed paperwork with the Knoxville City Council's Public Properties and Facilities Naming Committee to rename a waste water treatment plant the "Lane Kiffin Sewage Center."
"At first I was offended that he would sneak out in the middle of the night, like a one night stand," McElroy said.
But now, he's over it.
The University of Tennessee has a lot of tradition on campus naming buildings and streets after former greats. Neyland Stadium, Peyton Manning Pass, and Phillip Fulmer Way are examples.
McElroy said after driving down Neyland Drive and seeing all the history, it hit him. Renaming the Kuwahee Wastewater Treatment Plant would be the best way to let Kiffin know he understands why the coach left.
"It dawned on me--Lane Kiffin told us that he hoped the fans would understand. I thought 'Well, naming the wastewater plant for him would let him know, I think very clearly, we do understand,'" McElroy, an off-and-on season ticket holder said. "We want to memorialize his stay here, and I think this would be doing it appropriately."
McElroy says he wrote the $262 check for the application fee and mailed it to the City Council's Clerk last week.
"We don't have to rename the entire facility after him, just a part of it," he said.
McElroy conceded just a cesspool at the facility would be enough to satisfy him.
On the application, he says he wanted "to honor our recently departed head coach and raise awareness of the good work done by the Knoxville Utilities Board."
"I think it'd be very fitting. He's definitely garbage," UT Student Paul Mills said.
While McElroy admits it's funny to think about Kiffin's name associated with a place with a specialty in human waste, the attorney is serious about the plan and says he will follow through, showing up at whatever meetings he needs to attend.
Calls to the University of Southern California's Athletic Department requesting comment from the former Volunteer coach were not returned Tuesday.
"What he says about it? I could care less," McElroy said. "Knowing what we know now, I don't think anybody is angry he's gone."
Both the University of Tennessee and the Knoxville Utilities Board had no official comment on the proposed name change.
The Public Property naming committee only meets a few times each year. Members say they're not certain when they'll take up the renaming issue.
McElroy says he cannot wait, hopefully by next fall, to make the trip to Neyland Stadium and see Lane Kiffin's 7-6 season permanently remembered.
"I'll have a big grin on my face every time I drive down Neyland Drive," he said.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Great Church in Tampa
TAMPA, FLORIDA
Town N Country CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE
If your looking for a church to help you "Know and Grow" in God.
If your looking for a church that doesn't judge you on your Car and Clothes.
If your looking for a church that loves that you are there on Sunday to Worship the Lord.
If your looking for a Pastor who "Teaches to You" not "Preaches at You".
If your Not Perfect.
This is a Great Place.
See you on Sunday
Town N Country CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE
If your looking for a church to help you "Know and Grow" in God.
If your looking for a church that doesn't judge you on your Car and Clothes.
If your looking for a church that loves that you are there on Sunday to Worship the Lord.
If your looking for a Pastor who "Teaches to You" not "Preaches at You".
If your Not Perfect.
This is a Great Place.
See you on Sunday
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
God asks you to take a Stand
Christianity is not the only way to serve the God, just my way. Our Bible states..
Jeremiah 4:22
For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are silly children,
And they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.
Nothing in the New Testament promises that if you become a Christian you will be endowed with greater personal morality, kindness, intelligence, wisdom, lawfulness and riches. Testimony requires testing and how we overcome our failures and serve our fellows, in God's vision, determines Salvation.
Isaiah 2:3
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.
Mica 4:2
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.
Psalms 23:3
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Psalms 25:4-5
4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;
Paths...Their are many paths to serve God. But you first have to say "There is a God" .
Christianity is not the only way to serve the Lord, just my way.
Jeremiah 4:22
For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are silly children,
And they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.
Nothing in the New Testament promises that if you become a Christian you will be endowed with greater personal morality, kindness, intelligence, wisdom, lawfulness and riches. Testimony requires testing and how we overcome our failures and serve our fellows, in God's vision, determines Salvation.
Isaiah 2:3
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.
Mica 4:2
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.
Psalms 23:3
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Psalms 25:4-5
4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;
5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Paths...Their are many paths to serve God. But you first have to say "There is a God" .
Christianity is not the only way to serve the Lord, just my way.
SILVER and GOLD
Silver and Gold represent the pinnacle of traditional long term savings and security - the Ultimate Money. Why? Because it is the only monetary asset that isn't someone else's liability. It has a basic value as a commodity for many uses, it never spoils or deteriorates. It doesn't represent a promise to pay and it isn't dependent up the survival of a particular power or group of powers. In 1810, 30 silver ounces or 1 gold ounce*, would purchase you a Very Good Weapon or a Fine Suite Clothes. It would do the same in 1910 just as it would today in 2010. In two words, it is valuable because IT IS.
* (The traditional ratio of gold to silver)
* (The traditional ratio of gold to silver)
Monday, December 14, 2009
My Christmas List 2009
Dad's Christmas List
1. Taurus Thunderbolt Pump Rifle 357mag
2. Spanish CETME 7.62x51 NATO
3. ParaOrd GI 1911 45acp
4. Marlin Bolt Action rifle 308win
5. Generator 5500w continuous min output
6. Ruger P-95 9mm
7. Smith & Wesson 22A 22lr
8. EK knife #3 Blade, Wood Grip, Cross Guard
9. Primers - Large and Small Pistol
10. Barska 7x50 Waterproof Binocular with Compass and Rangefinder Reticule
11. Hennessy Hammock EXPLORER DELUXE A-SYM
12. Bullseye, Unique Powder 4lbs size
13. 9mm and/or 45ACP Brass
14. Hiking Boots
15. Hiking GPS color -w- updateable maps
16. MRE's
17. Freeze Dried Backpacker Meals
18. Backpack Water Filter -w- "ceramic element"
19. Good Scoped Rifle Case
20. Set of One Piece Gun Cleaning Rods
21. Good 3x9 air rifle scope
22. Ely, Winchester or Remington Target 22lr ammo
23. 7.62x39 Re-loadable ammo
24. New HD Beam Style Powder Scale (not digital)
25. Primer Pocket cleaner -w- handle
26. Lee 7.62x39 dies and/or 308 and/or 223
27. Magazine for Hi Standard "Sharpshooter" Pistol 22lr
28. US or Canada Silver Coins or Silver Bullion
29. Golf Balls
30. New AT trail maps
This is my Christmas List for 2009. I've made lists every year since I was 4, even though they mostly quit working when I was 13, and aint done d!ck for me in 30 years. But I keep on trying. You would think with 5 kids one of them would hit just 1 item just out of pure luck.
It's not like they don't buy me anything , they can find some amazingly expensive "CRAP" that I have to go ouuu and ahhhh over. Things like the golf ball washer for my pull cart. The average life of a golf ball for me is about 25 strokes or 2 holes, they never, ever, have time to get dirty.
A new 1911 has been in the "Top 3" for 30 years, usually No# 1, they all ask me what I want every year and I tell them "a new 1911 Government" Dec 25 gets here. NADA
But I do have something to look forward too, when I turn 55 the youngest (12) is planning to have me committed. Because, she claims I am senile. She has done the research and it wont cost anywhere as much if she if she waits the 4 years.
So you see how it goes................
Oh Well...........
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Recession is Over, Welcome Back to the Depression
Bill Bonner
Provided as a courtesy of Agora Publishing & The Daily Reckoning
Nov 27, 2009
One turkey turns to the other...
"Things were pretty rough there for a while...what with the recession and all. But now there's a recovery. Business is picking up."
"Yeah, this is great...no more hanging around this place waiting...finally, the boss says we're all shipping out today..."
"I wonder what we're going to be doing..."
"I don't know...I'm going to some place called 'Butterball Birds'..."
"Hey, sounds like it might be fun...maybe it's some kind of theme park. I'm going to work for a fellow named Frank Perdue..."
As our friend Nassim Taleb says, a turkey's life is very agreeable...until the very last day. Until then, his whole life is a bull market. Everything looks good. Good food. A roof over his head. Plenty of company. Even free health care. The MPT guys would look at his history. They'd see no volatility. Every day, the turkey gains weight. Every day things get better. They'd see all reward and no risk. They'd say 'every investor should have turkeys in his portfolio.'
The chartists, too. They'd look at the turkey's life and see a line moving steadily up. 'Is this a winner or what," they'd say to each other.
And what about the economists? Well, the old-timers would be suspicious. 'There's no such thing as all upside...there's no boom without a bust,' they'd grumble. But the young fellows wouldn't listen. They'd plump for the turkeys without hesitation, confident that if anything were to go wrong, Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner would set it right lickety-split.
And now, they think the Bernanke-Geithner team has just pulled off a save. Thanks to them, the turkeys who ran Wall Street - and invested in it - have been spared. America is getting back to work.
But what kind of work?
Alas, it's the work of a DEPRESSION - de-leveraging, busting up, working out loans, defaulting on debt...going chapters 11 and 7.
Yes, dear reader, the recession is over. Welcome back to the Depression. The number crunchers reported a positive GDP growth figure for the last quarter of 3.5%. Everyone cheered. Now, the crunchers admit that they were a little too optimistic. The real number is only 2.8%. But it's still positive. So the recovery is still on...
Sort of. If you deconstruct the numbers, and pull out all the feds' hot money effects, you'll probably find that the economy is not growing at all. How could it be? It's a consumer economy. Consumers aren't consuming...
The Wall Street Journal reports that "One in four borrowers underwater."
Mortgage delinquencies at a record high, adds The New York Times.
Real joblessness is at 17.5%, reports CNBC.
Insiders are selling 17 of their own shares for every one that they buy.
"Consumers lose appetite for dining out," says The Los Angeles Times.
The National Retail Federation thinks holiday sales will be 1% lower than last year. And last year they were depressed.
But The New York Times is worried about us over here in England. "Lost decade feared for British economy," says a headline.
As we pointed out yesterday, the US economy has already suffered a lost decade. No employment growth in the last ten years. No gains in the stock market. No household income growth. As near as we can tell, the whole nation is just another decade older and deeper in debt.
But that's the way it works, isn't it? A bull market on Wall Street...or a boom in the economy...they're just like a turkey's life. It's all fine...until it ain't fine any more.
And now, we're going to let you in on the secret. You can pass this on to the White House and the Fed if you like.
How can you really get an economy out of a depression? Well, you have to get into a depression first. Then, you can get out.
The cure for a depression, in other words, is a depression. Nothing else will do. Mistakes need to be addressed and corrected. Losses need to be recognized and written off. Bad decisions need to be put right.
So, bring on the depression! Get it on. Get it over with.
Too bad the feds don't get it at all.
Source: http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/recession-is-over-welcome-back-depression/2009/11/26/
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