Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” – Ronald Wilson Reagan, speaking at a prayer breakfast.




Note from JWR:

Wednesday will be the last day of my February special “support our troops” sale on copies of the new expanded 33 chapter edition my novel “Patriots” . If you place an order directly with me during February, and you have us mail it to an APO or FPO address, then the price is just $12 per copy, plus $3 postage. (That is $10.99 off of the cover price–right near my cost.) I now offer a couple of additional payment options for book orders: both AlertPay and GearPay. (I prefer AlertPay or GearPay because they don’t share PayPal’s anti-gun political agenda.) …




Letter Re: Who Needs a Hummer H1?

Jim, I was browsing around by way of “Steyr Puch” (long story) and came upon the following URLs. My oh my, I thought; “I won’t need an H1 Hummer after this.” (The topmost link has some 4×4 prices at around $10,000+). Okay, they’re gasoline/electronic ignition, but look at those those prices [versus $30,000 for a commercial HMMWV H1]. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Steyr+Puch&btnG=Google+Search http://www.eurotruck-importers.com/pinzgauer.htm http://www.staufferclassics.com/pinzgauer.html Regards, – Ben L. JWR Replies: Even though getting spare parts for European military surplus trucks can be a problem here in the States, I’m a big believer in Pinzgauers and Unimogs. At the current surplus vehicle prices, you …




Letter Re: U.S. Dollar Collapse? I Think We are Getting Close

Sir: Over this past weekend, I began re-reading “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” . I hadn’t touched it since mid-2000. Wow! page 10 includes:…”just before the Crunch…unofficial debt topped 19 trillion dollars…” a president that didn’t let trifles life ledger sheets and statistics get in his way…the real deficit was growing…”a full scale default on US Treasuries appears imminent…” Then I look at Internet financial and economic news feeds [and see] Fleet Street (London’s Wall Street) recommending that their client firms get out of the US Dollar (USD), China, UAE, Russia and others moving out of the USD. Many estimates …




Letter Re: Kanban: America’s Ubiquitous “Just in Time” Inventory System–A Fragile House of Cards

Jim, I’ve heard many, many people bash our ‘just in time’ distribution model. but, I’ve never heard of even a single military official from any other country brag or boast of the same assertions. Our ‘just in time’ delivery of goods is one of the most survivable, re-configurable and defend-able supply chains ever in the history of mankind. It can grow to surge resources into a disaster area, it can shrink to conserve fuel, it presents fast moving small targets of no individual strategic significance, it can bypass destroyed cities, it can use improvised warehouses, it can cluster around railway …




Odds ‘n Sods:

I just had a phone conversation with my brother. He mentioned that a power surge in the local utility lines caused $220 in damage to his washing machine. It seems that microcircuits are ubiquitous in household electronics and appliances. Its not just your computer, televisions, radios, and and stereo that are at risk. Your automatic bread maker, your washing machine, and perhaps even your dishwasher use vulnerable microcircuits. His advice: Spend $100 and buy a few high quality surge-arresting power strips. Even better would be the Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) variety that automatically trip in the event of a brown-out. …







Note from JWR:

Today we present another article submitted for Round 9 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. If you want a chance to win the contest, start writing and e-mail us your article. Round 9 will end on March 31st. …




Wound Care: An Emergency Room Doctor’s Perspective, by E.C.W., MD

Arguably the most important factor in wound healing is the potential for infection. Ever since Semmelweis and Lister demonstrated that strict hand washing made a tremendous difference in reducing the incidence of postoperative infections and puerperal fever after childbirth, health care workers have tried to refine methods for decreasing bacterial contamination of wounds in an effort to avoid infection. Thus we have some practitioners who still soak wounds in betadine solutions lengthily even though more modern research has shown that this kills viable tissue and makes wounds less amenable to suturing. For the concerned individual who must deal with a …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Wow! Have you noticed the spot prices of silver and gold in the past few days? If you think that you’ve “missed the boat” on precious metals, you are wrong. I still predict that spot silver is heading past $40 per ounce in the next few years. I’ve said it many times, but it bears repeating: Diversify your investments into precious metals, especially silver.   o o o An alternative for those of you that live in gun-grabbing Nanny States: .50 Caliber Air Rifles. BTW, these might be a nice addition to every survival gun battery, since they will allow …







Note from JWR:

The high bid is now at $150 in the current SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a brand new Schecter “Warthog” Electric Guitar. This is an awesome guitar decorated in a military aviation theme, from Schecter’s Tempest series. It has a $729 retail value. Please tell any of your friends that are guitarists about this auction. The auction ends March 15th. Just e-mail me your bid. Thanks!




Letter Re: Propane Shortage and Rationing in the Frigid U.S. Northeast

Mr. Rawles, I have enjoyed your site for years. I was compelled to write when I saw a situation in Maine this week that ties the two current threads on your site together (Just in time delivery and propane as a fuel source). In the State of Maine we have had a stark reminder of the inelasticity of the energy (propane) supply chain. As a result of a Canadian railroad union strike and weather that impacted the the normal shipping schedule, we have had a mini propane crisis requiring the governor to get involved, have the US Coast Guard to …




Letter Re: A SurvivalBlog Reader’s Four Days at Front Sight, by S.F. in Hawaii

Mr. Rawles, I took the two day defensive handgun course [at Front Sight] 2-1/2 years ago, and I agree on the value of the experience. Prior to that class, my pistol range time was just punching paper. Now its presentation, safety rules review, malfunction clearing, etc. I had never considered malfunction clearing! In all my reading of the gun magazines, I had never come across the topic. Maybe it’s not sexy enough to sell magazines. I also appreciate your review of [the television series] “Jericho.” I had the same impression, though your experienced eye caught more. I guess if they …




Letter Re: An Opinion on .223 Remington/5.56mm NATO

Dear Mr. Rawles: I know you’re busy and I don’t expect you have time to chat about old ground but I did have some observations on guns that you might consider. While the AR-15 in .223 cal. is not a bear killer nor a long-range sniper weapon, it seems to have been completely dismissed in “Patriots” (which I greatly enjoyed and profited from) and in the writings on the Blog. However, there are two cartridges that make this little gun lethal: the [55 grain] M193 Round/Q3131 Round and the 68 gr. Black Hills Match Hollow Point. The M193/Q3131 round has …