Nom de plume: Rivrdog

Prepper Post - Gathering Strength

In any disaster involving the loss of civil order, prepared people fend for themselves. Some definite psychology will arise then, and you need to plan NOW to deal with it.

The psychology is that the un-prepared will want to join you, and either remove your supplies by force, or sponge off of you, depleting those supplies quicker than you had planned, endangering you and YOUR family.

Dealing with the first instance is easy. In the S.H.T.F. scenario, you will defend your survival supplies as you defend your very life, because you WILL be defending your life. Deadly force is appropriate against anyone who would take your supplies. Do not hesitate to use deadly force, and use it against any and all who threaten you and your supplies, and use it IMMEDIATELY when the threat arises.

The second scenario is more difficult to deal with, and requires some pre-planning.

The plans should include a pre-printed paper handout which will become VERY important, for several reasons.

You may download that handout here:

Download PREP-ClanRules  (that's in Open Office format), PDF here: Download PREP-ClanRules (PDF)

Note that the handout is simple and to the point. You should allow the sponger to read it in front of you, while you maintain your distance, armed, of course, weapons visible but not pointed at the sponger.

After the sponger has read the handout, ask him/her if they are willing to fully comply. If they agree, you may issue your orders to your new subordinate crew/family. If they do not, cover them with your weapon and order them off the property and out of the vicinity (so much as you can make that stick).

See, this isn't that hard, but it DOES involve some philosophy. If you are to become the leader of a Clan, you assume the responsibility for those who have willingly joined your clan and sworn fealty to it. that means different things, but among the things it CERTAINLY means is that you would do well to have more food and water on hand than just you and your immediate family need. Maybe more arms, as well. Maybe more shelter capability, as well.

Whatever, but PLAN it!

S.O.T.W.'s Back!

Welcome back, Jim! BTW, for those of you NOT steeped in ancient blog-history, Jim of Smoke On The Water got me started in blogging on these here intartubes seven years ago. Jim took a bad pounding from Ma Nature down on Galveston Island, where he works, lives and smokes fine see-gars (and where the good sloop New Dawn gave up her last in hurricane Ike), and he had a bad turn of personal events as well. He HAS survived all that, and now the scales have fallen from his eyes, and he can see clearly again.

S.O.T.W. goes back to "first daily read" status, effective immediately.

BTW, Jim, I respectfully disagree. A MOAB might take out the center of town, but ONE B-52 D-model, built in 1955, is all that's needed. Install a Hayes Dispenser System in it's bomb bay, with the Hayes cells filled with either 5-gallon napalm cubes (around 300 such refreshing cleansing fire-starters, IIRC) or bomblet-cubes (a "3-mega-BB" load) can not only kill the place, but a quarter of those bomblets could be set to detonate on movement delayed to after impact, and THAT'S area-denial, baby! I can still run that ASQ-48 bombing system, IN MY SLEEP! BTW. Here's what the aircraft could do to the pirates:

/nostalgia, OFF/ All the D-models were chopped up at the Boneyard to further some START-treaty with "peace in our time", BAH!

The stench from Washington, DC - Updated!

Is overpowering, upwind and 3,000 miles away.

Has anyone else noticed the full-court press (sorry to sully the name of basketball) by the Obama Administration to announce, within minutes of the supposed final closure of the runaway well in the Gulf, that the oil is 75% gone, and move along please, nothing to see here anymore?

They trotted out Carol Browner, Administratrix of the EPA (and an enviro-whacko liar, so at least she's well practiced) to issue these claims.

One thing she said stuck out though. She threw out that 75% figure, and reinforced it by saying that the rest of the oil has been either cleaned up, "dissipated or evaporated".

Another dummy heard from. She must have gotten the order to rush out a cover-Obama's-ass presser at 0430, probably a call from Rahm, who just naturally assumes everyone else can lie as smoothly as he does.

The "dissipated" oil she's referring to has simply broken up from large sheets covering the water, to many more smaller patches that don't show up well to aerial observation. The "evaporated" oil she mentioned is physically impossible. Crude oil is so heavy that if you want to burn it, you have to heat it to hundreds of degrees before you can run it through any sort of injector to make a burnable mist. Crude just doesn't evaporate. If anything, it might break down just a little, and release whatever light molecules are the result of the breakdown to the atmosphere, but by weight and volume of the spilled oil, such breakdown is negligible.

There WERE millions of gallons of surfactant-dispersant (detergent) sprayed on the oil. All the dispersant does is make very small oil globules out of large sheets of oil, nothing actually goes away. If you don't want to believe this, go down to your nearest Coast Guard station, and with the Coasties watching, pour some fuel on the water, then spray 409 on it to make the sheen disappear, and then watch how long it takes them to give you a $5,000 ticket for not only polluting, but another for DISPERSING THE POLLUTION THROUGHOUT THE WATER COLUMN. BTW, that little add-on triples the fine. That dispersed oil is killing fish at every level of the Gulf as I write.

What HAS happened, assuming we are dealing with straight data, an assumption I'd prefer not to make (this IS the same gang that uses phony "science" to promote anthropogenic global warming nonsense), but where almost ALL that oil went is below the surface of the Gulf. If it maintains neutral buoyancy, it will still move around and eventually wash up on some beach somewhere, and if attains negative buoyancy, it will sink to the bottom as tar balls, where it will forever pollute the ocean bottom and forever damage that part of the ocean ecosystem that flourishes on the bottom, such as kelp, coral, groundfish and shellfish.

But, there IS less oil observable on the surface, so the absolute numbskulls in DeeCee have decided that it's time to bury this event on the back pages of history, the better to re-elect the crowd that brought us to this sorry pass and get this "un-planned crisis" off of Rahm Emmanuel's work schedule.

Readers, the Gulf is STILL polluted from the Bay of Campeche spill 30 years ago, and it will still be polluted from THIS spill 30 years hence. Only the very small portion of the oil which as been cleaned up from the shoreline is actually off the books of this pollution event, and that ain't much.

For the real conservationists, the non-eco-freaks among us who actually give a rip about fishery stocks and the quality of the ocean's waters, this event has risen to "Never forget" status. Don't even whisper that around any Obama stooges though, you will have just uttered heresy, and will be treated as a heretic.

BTW, this strategy to "bury" the Gulf crisis is very bad news for everyone except British Petroleum. It means that US Federal prosecutors will take a go-slow attitude on looking for and charging crimes related to the haphazard work that led to the blowout, and it means that payouts to economic victims of the spill will also be soft-pedaled. Obama uber alles.

Once again, it will be up to the bloggers to keep the pressure on, like we did in the '04 election with all the John Kerry cover-ups related to his "Swift-boasting".

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UPDATE: 080410 2141 PDT:  Now the bullshit attack is in full swing. NOAA, the weather people who ruined their reputation years ago with the infamous "hockey stick" AGW claims, has also chimed in about the oil being "gone". Boys and girls, when the Associated Press, up to now a friend of all things Obama, takes a major article to it's front page to rip apart the "science" of a supposedly-scientific government bureau, the Government is having a very bad day. Get back to the drawing board, Rahm Emanuel, this press blitz has just failed, and failed "grand mal". Yeppers, when the AssPress says you pulled your science out of your hoo-hoo, it must still be dripping with steaming poo.

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Dependence on Foreign Oil

This IS a major economic and security issue and it needs to be solved, but enacting moratoria on drilling goes in the wrong direction.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D - OR) wants the USA to be weaned off foreign oil by 2030. Very commendable, and that goal COULD be achieved by drilling in the CONUS, but no, Senator Merkley wants to do it by replacing internal-combustion motive power with stored-energy motive power. 

Senator Merkley has been drinking some mighty strange adult beverages.

I wrote to him and told him so:

Senator, you have decided to support, as Federal Policy, "weaning" the USA off of all imported petroleum by 2030. That's a noble goal, if done properly.

While this could be done, it cannot be done by enacting drilling moratoria.

It also cannot be done by changing most personal and commercial transportation to plug-in electric drive technology.

It's simple Physics, Senator. The technology does not exist, nor is it projected to exist, to have stored-energy technology capable of providing electric motive power to the wheels of large trucks, and have them speed our commerce along on the Interstate Highway system.

Stored-energy technology is also not likely to power our personal vehicles for long-distance travel anytime soon, either. There is no way available or on the drawing boards to get to the "holy grail" of a stored-energy family sedan with 250-mile range, 70 mph cruising speed and a 20-minute recharge time. Study after study has shown that lacking those minimum criteria (all of them), US car buyers are NOT going to go away from fueled-energy cars any time soon.

"City" cars and "Urban" light delivery vehicles may now be built using stored-energy motive technology, but some sort of fueled-energy system will still be required for all other vehicular uses.

Alternative fuels have potential, but as we have seen from the unintended consequences of the Ethanol debacle, you can't just subsidize alternative fuel into existence, it has to be ENGINEERED into existence. The $4 loaf of bread wasn't even dreamed of before Ethanol, but it is a fact of life now, Senator. When the electric grid begins to collapse from the extra drain of all those stored-energy vehicles sapping it's already maxxed-out energy, we will AGAIN see the law of unintended consequences.

Which side of THAT probable debacle are you going to be on, Senator?

(I'm NOT holding my breath for a cogent reply.)

More phony "science"

This time, it's the measurement of the flow from the ruptured oil well a mile underwater in the Gulf of Mexico.

At the beginning, it was CORRECTLY pointed out that no system or equipment existed to measure the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf. Ever since then, two months ago, various "estimates" have been made, but now we have "groups of scientists" (never says what sort of science they're involved in) making huge bumps in the amount of oil flowing down there. Just in the last three days, the latest "scientific estimate" has increased the flow tenfold!

Of course, no actual science is ever given on ANY of these estimates.

This is dangerous, because the Left is actually keeping score on the spill. You are going to hear their numbers bandied about for years, but this oil spill is being made into the #1 reason we MUST have Cap and Tax, so it IS important to get the numbers as close to right as possible, and if it ISN'T possible to give any accurate numbers, then the Government needs to tell us that, too.

But no, they won't tell us that, because first, they would have to admit that there is a limit to what engineering can do for us here. Most of us educated folk have already deduced that, but the dumbed-down gimme-society needs to be spoon-fed bogus data, so that they can bleat for more government intervention in the production of energy.

The courts MAY put an end to this charade. Since it is likely that British Petroleum will be fined based upon how much oil was ACTUALLY spilled, BP will have an absolute right to have that number determined accurately, and not by "groups of scientists" pulling a number out of their progressive keisters.

Obama wants to kick ass?

He has it exactly wrong.

He IS an ass.

It's easy to make out BP as the only villain here, but they are guilty only of boring the hole recklessly.

Who let them bore the hole? The Federal Government. We can argue forever whether it's Bush's fault, but the fact of the matter is that it quit being Bush's RESPONSIBILITY on January 20, 2009, at precisely 12:00 Eastern Standard Time.

Oh, that darn RESPONSIBILITY thing. It's sort of like "inherited" deficits, or, as Bush 43 discovered in 2001 when HE took the reins of power, like getting a government filled with liberal administrators, and not having a clue as to how to flush them out, so his government limped along with conservatives at the Cabinet level and liberals doing the work. Yeah, THAT responsibility.

Then, Obama shows how REALLY lame his image as an ass-kicker is when he blames the media. Look, by the time we started wearing long pants, Mr. President, we ALL knew that the media can't be blamed for physical things, like oil spills. We can blame them for promoting dangerous IDEAS, such as secular progressivism, but we can't blame them for an oil spill.

No, Mr. President, you aren't in a position to kick any ass here.

In fact, you will NEVER kick any ass, because you don't know how it's done.

FIRST,  you kick the target ass, THEN you take names. It simply can't be done the other way around.

Reads like Clancy

I thought I was finished writing about the Gulf Coast Disaster, but I guess I saved the best for last.

This account is by a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force who was designated Shelter Commander for one of the disaster shelters on Keesler Air Force Base, near Biloxi MS, and on the dangerous right-front side of hurricane Katrina as the Storm of the Century made landfall.

For those who don't know, the Air Base was inundated by a storm surge of 20+ feet and suffered eyewall winds. There is little left of the base today besides the shelter, it's Command Post and the runway.

The shelter was in an older building that had been originally built (overbuilt!) with nuclear attack in mind. The building was damaged, but it and it's 731 occupants survived.

The story reads like an abbreviated Tom Clancy novel, and you won't turn away from it. It starts before the storm hit, and carries on, 24 hours a day for over six days until the shelter occupants were released to attend their personal needs.

There were no assaults, robberies, rapes or murders in the shelter. Those who got sick were cared for properly. The conditions in the shelter were probably worse than in the Super Dome in New Orleans, yet the character of the shelter occupants and the masterful way the Shelter Commander ran it were the difference, literally, between life and death.

Indigo brought this article to us, and deserves your serious support for doing so.

If you never read anything from my blog again, you are forgiven if you will just read her post.

Better late than never

So, the MSM finally gets the message that the word "rebuilding" means one thing to us taxpayers, and an entirely different thing to Louisiana (D)onk politicians.

I warned on Sept 12, that the Huey Long-inspired corrupt politicos in the disaster area would pad the bill.

Today, October 6, USA TODDay finally sees the light with an editorial that, in the same breath, accuses the LA politicos of corruption as usual, then forgives them (for they know no other way to act?).

The latest figures I see are $125-150 billion, but sane and un-bought engineers have yet to answer the primary question: is is wise to rebuild the city of New Orleans in it's sub-sea level bowl, or better to bulldoze it, breach the levees and let it return to swamp, rebuilding on better ground?

Until that question is answered in a straightforward, public way, with the politicos standing on the sidelines and engineers doing the deciding, I'm against spending another nickel past rescue and relocation expense.

Sir Aaron's Tale

Sir Aaron, Knight-Errant of the Kingdom of Mercy, Alliance of Western Culture, has returned from his mission and quest. As you will recall if you've been following his exploits here, here, here, and here, he was conducting a private relief mission into Katrina-damaged Mississippi.

The good news is that he is one of many who've seen fit to elevate their brotherhood and take direct action to help their fellow citizens recover from the terrible storms.

The bad news is that I can't talk him into starting his own blog. He's wary of the time it would take from his Knightly duties. He's right there, but I would point out to Sir Aaron that blogging is also one way of helping the culture. It is the Way of the Teacher, the way I follow. But, for every teacher, we need Knights of action.

Here is Sir Aaron's Tale:

Rita's Ashore

...and the initial assessments are being made as I write. It seems that the old whore was fairly well f**ked played out by the time she drug her sorry ass over the beach. Don't do any victory dances just yet though. Something curious is happening with the old gal.

Most hurricanes fall apart quickly after hitting land. Rita isn't. 10 hours after making landfall near Port Arthur, TX, she is still quite intact, and still has Cat 1 winds and good circulation.

She is dumping several inches of rain an hour in western Louisiana.

I think that I just wrote about this here, last night.

Let's wait and see if the diversion projects can keep that water out of the mainstem Mississippi, or if it will all wind up in New Orleans, inside the levees. The Mayor's boys may be celebrating a little too soon downriver from Rita's deluge.

Speaking of Nagin, I see he is jumping up and down hollering to the world that the French Quarter didn't get flooded in this latest round of levee breaches. WELL, IT DIDN'T FLOOD LAST TIME EITHER, DUMMY. Who are you talking to here, bozo? The rest of the country has considerably more education than your school system provides for YOUR constituents, Mayor, but we also know that the dollars from the French Quarter won't flow into your pockets again until you get the rest of the city running again, if ever. So go back to your seat on the stool in the corner, and put that pointy dunce cap back on top of the tinfoil hat you're wearing.