My Blog List

Monday, February 25, 2013

Mouth-Breathin' Dumbasses

 I'm losing my patience.

I am so friggin' tired of seeing story after story on issue after issue where no modicum of common sense is present.  It seems as though there is no attempt whatsoever to challenge a single word from this administration on virtually any subject.

If they say it, it's gospel, and common sense be damned, we're going to perpetuate the administration's position.  Worse yet, is that when our mouth-breathing population is polled on these subjects, they fall in line with the administration, with a compliant, "yup".

No questions.  No challenges.  No nothing.  "If David Gregory says it's so, well, it must be right."

There are a handful of us who write and read and bitch about what's going on, but most folks can't be bothered to even scratch the surface of these issues facing our country.

Reasonable gun control, drones being used on Americans, "Sequestering" shutting down the government, and just general economic common sense.

"Reasonable" guns control, for instance.  Barry took a pile of crap ideas, flung them against the wall, and it looks like Universal Background Checks and Large Capacity Magazines might be sticking to the wall.

Here is a grammar school-level conversation that every American should be having with themselves on the background checks:
Hey, doing a background check for people that want guns sounds very reasonable.

Why?  What will it accomplish?

Well, by closing the Gun Show Loophole and the Private Sale Loophole, guns won't end up in the hands of criminals.  That's a good thing.

Really?  Criminals, by definition, don't follow the rules.  If one were to be stupid enough to go through the check and be rejected, what do you think they'd do?

Uhm, they'd probably steal one or buy one from another criminal.

Correct.  So, how does performing background checks on law abiding citizens keep guns out of the hands of criminals?

Uhhh.  It wouldn't.

Correct, again.  Oh, and by the way, since this issue is being brought up because of the recent mass murders by insane criminals, how many of those mass murderers failed a background check?

I dunno.

Not one of them.  Placing restrictive laws that will only be followed by the law abiding citizen does nothing to stop criminals.  Still think the Universal Background Check will make anyone safer?

[Crickets chirping]
No matter.  The dumbasses in Congress will pass this law because it feels good.  Makes it look like they're tough on crime, and compassionate towards crime victims, all in one fell swoop.

In reality, they're just pandering mouth-breathin' dumbasses.

---

All of these types of laws and statutes and regulations are ultimately for one thing, and one thing only:  Control.  Control of your actions, movement and earnings - reinforcing the idea that you must ask permission of the government to proceed with your life.
I need permission to drive.

I need permission to open a business.

I need permission to carry a concealed weapon.

I need permission to put an addition on my home.

I need permission to ingest certain drugs.
 Tell me how, if I were to ignore any of these laws, would society be harmed?

It wouldn't be.  If by my actions while doing one of these things, I infringed upon the rights of another citizen, THEN I would be justly punished by society.

To reinforce the supremacy of our supposed civil "servants",
I must subject myself to invasive physical searches by the government to fly on a supposedly private airline, though no probable cause warranting the search exists.

My vehicle may be stopped and I can be questioned at checkpoints when I have not exhibited any indications of illegal activity.

If their life is taken during the course of their employment, the penalty for their murder is more severe than the penalty for taking my life while I'm at my job.

The lives of their children are more valuable than the lives of my children, as many of their children attend schools with tax payer-funded armed protection.  My children are afforded no such protection. 
With the mere accusation - not conviction - of certain crimes, I can have my assets seized and sold, and the proceeds are given to The State. 
My home can be stormed by para-military tactical police squads for non-violent criminal accusations.
 And most people are A-OK with this egregious conduct.  They've swallowed the Koolaid administered at our Government Schools decade after decade.  "The government wouldn't do this if it wasn't the right thing to do!" bleat the sheep.

They've got their government cheese, or perhaps are just comfortable and don't want to rock the boat.  Either way, things aren't so bad.

"What's the big deal with a couple of extra rules?  As long as the government keeps us safe from the boogie man du jour, or keeps food in our bellies and a roof over our heads, complying is no great inconvenience."

And therein lies the problem for the rest of us.

Accept The Challenge

How do you prepare for your future when society has this mindset - this desire - to be compliant with unjust and unconstitutional laws and regulations?  The assets you've acquired from your labors are not yours if the government thinks otherwise.  "Fair Share" laws - frighteningly similar to those in Atlas Shrugged - require that all get an equal share of the pie, regardless of past and present effort or lifestyle choices.

If you've got more than the next guy, that's just not fair, and you need to give some of yours away.  By force, if necessary.  Our government has done it in the past with gold seizures, is doing it now with high taxation, and is eyeing your retirement accounts like a hyena ogles a newborn gazelle.

And know with every fiber of your being that "Whisleblower" laws will be extended to place a bounty on the head of folks that scoff at future Anti-hoarding, Anti-gold and Anti-gun laws.

So, what do you do?  The long and short of it is:  You've got to hide your shit.  And not all in one place.

For instance, if you're eligible (or will be) for SSI, you need to ensure your other "outside income" is below levels considered sufficient to survive.  SSI will be "means tested" in the future.  Guaranteed.  No other way for the government to even consider keeping up appearances.

Unless you really want to live in poverty, you need to have other easily disposed of assets available.  Long-term food stores, farmland, precious metals, skills with which you can barter for other goods and services, ammunition, weapons, quality tools.

Multiple caches in multiple locations.

You must also keep your head down and mouth shut.  Claiming poverty then buying a new car every other year is going to set off the BS meter with the authorities, and the jig will be up.  Chat up your hefty silver stash, and rest assured you'll soon be making a donation to the state.

Get out there right now and develop some productive skills.  If Nanny is able to take all of your stuff, you can re-build.  Learn how to brew, how to distill, how to forge metal, how to weld, how to repair engines, how to sew clothes, how to plant a garden, how to load ammo, how to split logs - whatever.

Assets can be seized, skills cannot.

And learn how to cut a deal.  Negotiating starts with information.  What does the other guy really want?  For instance, someone selling a home you want may not be willing to budge an inch on the price.  Most folks would assume that meant the seller didn't really want to sell.  If you asked him why he's selling, you may find that he's just tired of the upkeep and property taxes, and the money is just going into the bank so he can draw an income from the interest.

You can offer to pay him his full price, as long as he carries the loan and accepts a small down payment.  Win win.  He gets some cash in hand, interest income and no property headaches, and you get the property.

In the previous post about canning the grapefruit juice, my employee looked at the bushels of grapefruit on his property as a nuisance.  He was thankful for me to take them off his hands.  I sweetened the pot by giving him a pint of the juice as further thanks and so he'll think of me when he's got more fruit.  We both benefited from the transaction.

Be creative.  Be tenacious.  Be consistent in your efforts.

Now go on - get to work on your very private future - mouth-breathin' dumbasses be damned!

---
Copyright 2013 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Monday, February 18, 2013

Canning Fruit Juice

I've got an employee who has TONS (literally) of grapefruit.  This past summer, he gave me a grocery bag full of these massive fruits.  They had very thick peels, but even when the peel was removed, the fruit was still the size of a softball.  Big, juicy and sweet (for grapefruit).

I had been reading an e-book by Jackie Clay of Backwoods Home Magazine that contained instructions on how to home can fruit.  I was thinking I was going to have to wait until all of the U-Pick orchards in our area opened up to be able to can some fruit.  By luck, my employee noted that one of his grapefruit trees was ready to snap limbs with it "winter crop", as it was so heavily laden with fruit.

I said I'd take some off his hands.

Well, he shows up the following week with 3 garbage bags full of fruit!  The grapefruits were considerably smaller this time around.  Still as sweet and juicy, though.

The Jackie Clay recipe said that you had to section the grapefruit before canning.  Otherwise, the white membrane gives the fruit a bitter taste.  I jumped online and found a couple of videos on sectioning grapefruit.

Uh oh.  Looks quite laborious.

I took one grapefruit and started sectioning away.  The first one took me about 10 minutes, and left me with about a half cup of fruit sections!  This is not good.  I decided to do a test of how many I could section in a 15 minute period.  I'd go all Edward Scissorhands - blades a-flyin' - going for speed, not beauty.

I sectioned 4 fruit and ended up with perhaps a cup and a quarter of sections.  Crap.  I'm looking at 60 or 70 grape fruits, and it's going to take forever to get them prepared, let alone canned.

Time for Plan B:  Juice.

I cut each grapefruit in half across its horizon (grasp with thumb and middle finger on the stem and flower indentations on the fruit, and carefully slice between them).  This will give you a cross section of the sections, making juicing MUCH easier.

I used a wooden juice reamer.  The pitcher for the juice had a very fine strainer on top to catch the pulp.

The Jackie Clay book also had instructions for canning fruit juice with the water bath method.  In short, you juice your fruit, heat it to 180F, and pour it into your pint canning jars (also having been heated to 180F along with the rings and lids).  Ensure the water in the canner is at least 2 inches over the top of the jars, bring to a boil, THEN start a timer for 15 minutes (adjust if you're at altitudes over 1000 feet per your canner instructions).  When the time is up, pull them from the canner, let cool, then check for proper seal on the jars.

I got 8 pints of the best grapefruit juice I've ever had.  Seriously awesome stuff.
---

I'm actually very anxious for his summer crop of grapefruit to come in.  Being much larger fruit, the sections should be big enough to justify the time needed to prep for canning.

If not, I'll have more juice in my future!


---
Copyright 2013 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Monday, February 11, 2013

So God Made A Liberal

An instant classic....






---
Copyright 2013 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Front Row Seats

We're getting a front row seat on how to wage a one-man, asymmetrical warfare campaign.

We've got a former sailor and  LAPD officer that's running amok in southern California.  It is his belief that he was wrongly discharged by the LAPD.  It is his desire to correct those wrong doings, and regain his good name.  It is his belief that he has taken every available avenue through the legal system, and the system has failed him because of lies from members of the LAPD.  You can read his "manifesto" here.

So, I'm guessing this guy figured he had two basic options on how to exact his revenge on LAPD.  Option 1 was to enter a police station or LAPD headquarters, guns a-blazin', and kill as many people as he could.  He would get a body count, but he would assuredly die in the attack in fairly quick fashion, and be forgotten almost as quickly.

Option 2 is to terrorize his enemy.  He understands that taking the LAPD head-on would accomplish little.  But pick them off slowly, individually, methodically, and publicly, well, you kill two birds with one stone.
---

What tactics is he using?
  • Pre-position supplies to allow your terror campaign to be extended
  • Publish your intent - a general list of grievances and specific targets
  • Kill some folks to show that you're serious
 So far, his plan is working like a charm.  Kill your enemies and humiliate them very publicly.

How much manpower and how many dollars are being sucked from all of these police agencies due to one man?  He is running them ragged.  Bleeding their coffers.

Perhaps more importantly, he's making them look inept.

Just like the NYPD cops that shot 9 civilians in Manhattan last August while trying to apprehend a bad guy, LAPD shot two old ladies in the town of Torrence because they were in a truck that looked like the one owned by the ex-cop.


 Holy crap.  No muzzle flash.  No defiant roars from an attacker.  Just a couple of old gals delivering newspapers.

Not as widely reported was another shooting by Torrence PD officers.  Same deal - the truck matched the description of the bad guy.  No one was hurt in that incident.

They look scared.
They look undisciplined.
They look untrained.
They look vulnerable.

As a study in what one determined, well-trained person can accomplish against a vastly superior force, it doesn't get much more vivid.  It will indeed be interesting seeing how this whole episode plays out.

---
Copyright 2013 Bison Risk Management Associates. All rights reserved. Please note that in addition to owning Bison Risk Management, Chief Instructor is also a partner in a precious metals business. You are encouraged to repost this information so long as it is credited to Bison Risk Management Associates. www.BisonRMA.com