Year: 2015

Odds ‘n Sods:

The FDA Might Finally Crack Down on Homeopathy. – H.L. I have mixed feelings on this one. There are some real crack-pot remedies being pushed out there, but the FDA doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation of regulation either. o o o Why Google Is the New Evil Empire. – D.S. o o o Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘I Thought It Was a Home Invasion’. – JBG o o o The Medical Cartel: Too Big to Fail, Too Evil to Expose. – H.L. o o o Abandoned By White House, Americans Describe Tense Escapes From Yemen. – B.B.



Notes for Tuesday – April 21, 2015

April 21st is Aggie Muster Day for all Texas A&M Corps of Cadets graduates. Aggie Muster celebrations/meetings are held as far away as Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan. I should mention that Jim’s grandfather (a U.S. Army Cavalry LTC) was an Aggie– something mentioned so often that everyone in his family felt like de facto Aggies, too. Other than the officers that matriculate though West Point, the four institutions that seem to have the greatest ongoing esprit de corps for graduates are Texas A&M, The Citadel, Norwich University, and VMI. Jim felt almost obliged to include an Aggie character in his …


“Internet” Without Infrastructure – Part 1, by R.H.

Communication, outgoing and incoming, is obviously vitally important, but we tend to take for granted the various channels available to us at this time. The telephone, email, and even television and radio media rely on a huge amount of civil infrastructure– the same infrastructure that we rely on for water, sewage service, food, electrical power, transportation, shipping and basic mail, and both fire suppression and law enforcement services. The Internet has become a vital part of that infrastructure. Without a functional power grid and cable or telephone service, the Internet does not exist. It could be argued that, even in …


Letter Re: Locking up a Well Pump

HJL, Can you please help me understand what you mean about locking up a well pump to prevent sabotage? Even if my well pump is locked, a saboteur intent on destroying my well could still dump poison down the air vent or take a k-saw or sledge hammer to the exposed portions of the pump. Unless you are erecting an impenetrable concrete and steel structure around your pump, I don’t understand what you are protecting by putting a lock on a manual well pump. Preventing an uninvited neighbor from cycling your well pump does not protect your well from damage. …


News From The American Redoubt:

Oregon Man Gets Prison Sentence For Collecting Rainwater On His Own Property. – RBS o o o Dad of CEO who announced 70K salaries: ‘We’re really surprised’ I wonder how surprised they will be when the price of a McDonald’s hamburger hits $15? I wonder if they can make the connection? o o o Rural Residents of the People’s Republic of Oregon want to pump their own gas. – RBS o o o Idaho Limits Forced Blood Draws From Motorists o o o For those who are thinking of moving to the Redoubt area, Survival Realty has some awesome listings …


Economics and Investing:

Student debt now makes up nearly half of federally owned financial assets. The student debt bubble edges on with many more unable to pay their debt. o o o The Rise of the Paper Machines o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: Grexit Fears Cause GDP Forecasts to Plummet Did Greece Just Launch Capital Controls: “Mandatory Cash Transfer” Decreed Due To “Extremely Urgent Need” – Student Debt Accounts For Nearly Half Of US Government “Assets” US Teeters on Brink of Economic Collapse Due to ‘Dollar Bubble’ – Ron Paul


Odds ‘n Sods:

Automakers to gearheads: Stop repairing cars. – G.G. o o o Turns out we do leave Americans behind. – B.B. o o o Helicopter Parents? Helicopter Government Is More Like It. – D.S. o o o HEAD of the FBI’s Anthrax Investigation Says the Whole Thing Was a SHAM. – H.L. o o o Wisconsin declares state of emergency over bird flu in poultry. – H.L.



Notes for Monday – April 20, 2015

On April 20th, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, creating the worst known offshore oil spill. April 20th is also the day that we remember the victims of the Columbine High School tragedy, where two students stormed into a suburban high school in Littleton, Colorado in 1999, at lunch time with guns and explosives, killing 13 and wounding dozens more in what was, at the time, the nation’s deadliest school shooting.


Scot’s Product Review: DeLorme inReach Explorer

The first warning is that this is an electronic device. It probably won’t work after an EMP or Carrington event. It communicates via the Iridium satellite system, which is also used by the government, so it isn’t secure, not that any electronic communications are. It depends on the GPS satellite constellation, which is another government service. The government can, when it feels like it, degrade the accuracy of civilian GPS units or even shut down the service to all but government clients. There are, therefore, drawbacks that you have to be aware of. Regardless, the DeLorme inReach offers some pretty …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Kershaw – Siege Tomahawk

Please indulge me for a few minutes, with some of my past. I was raised by my grandparents from the time I was 6-weeks old. The sad thing is that my grandparents had already raised nine kids of their own, and it sure wasn’t fair to them to have to raise me, but that’s the way it was. I had a good life though; I have no complaints. I didn’t realize it, but back then, in the 1950s, my grandparents were dirt poor. When I was younger, they both worked in the same factory on different shifts so one could …


Recipe of the Week: Chocolate Chick Pea Pudding

Hello Hugh, here is a simple and highly nutritious chocolate chick pea pudding recipe made from all food storage ingredients. The pudding has no beany taste, and if you have a Vitamix or blend the chick peas long enough in a regular blender there is no graininess. I also have used oats as a thickener, in case a person does not use flour or corn starch. Ingredients: 1-15 oz. can chick peas or garbanzo beans 2 cups water 2/3 cups non fat powdered milk 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder 1/4-1/2 cup sugar 2 Tbsp. oats 1 Tsp. powdered egg berries ( …


Letter Re: Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Inter Ordnance “AK-47″

Hugh/JR: I own the same rifle; I just bought it last fall. Full concurrence with all Pat’s observations, but the plastic furniture can be a drawback. During repeat (not full auto) firing, the hand guard failed (melted) at the forward-most position, welding the heat-softened material to the increasingly-hot barrel. I recommend owners of this otherwise fine product consider either increasing the gap between the plastic hand guard and the barrel or swapping it for one of different material. V/R


Economics and Investing:

The World Bank has been found to have violated its own policies, on protecting the rights of indigenous peoples. o o o Ford to spend $2.5 billion on plants in Mexico, angering UAW. – A.W. o o o Oil Busts Triggering Economic Seizures: “A Stream of Bankruptcy Attorneys Running Around”. – H.L. o o o 1 out of 4 college adjunct faculty collecting government assistance: Students in debt and professors barely getting by all the while tuition soars.