Letter Re: Learning More Than Just Weak Hand and Shooting

James Wesley: Regarding the recent letter, “Learning More Than Just Weak Hand and Shooting”: As one who has been on crutches several times due to surgery, had my left arm in a cast three times, a broken ankle, had a concussion, and many sprains throughout my athletic years, I tell people that you don’t realize how much you do without thinking about it, and to think about it every day. Brushing your teeth, getting up and down from a toilet, taking a shower, going up and down stairs, working with tools, caring for your family (children, dogs, spouse) and friends, …


Economics and Investing:

B.B. recommended this at the Jim Rogers Blog: We Should Take The Pain Now And Not Wait Until The Market Forces The Pain On Us $15 Trillion, and counting: US Government Spiraled Deeper into Debt This Fiscal Year. (And that doesn’t include long term pension and interest obligations!) Yishai and several other readers sent this: Treasury plans for euro failure: The Government is considering plans to restrict the flow of money in and out of Britain to protect the economy in the event of a full-blown euro break-up. Yishai’s noted: “If I were British, I’d be trying to move some …


Odds ‘n Sods:

At least once a week, I get another one of those endlessly-forwarded e-mails about the “China buying up Idaho” rumor, with a note attached, to the effect of “Well, Jim, that destroys any hope for the American Redoubt…” That is balderdash! Not only was the “Chinese Invasion” an exaggerated tale, but the scheme was dead before it ever got started. Read this piece from The Idaho Statesman, and then this one. Please don’t let those wild rumors change you plans to move to any of the American Redoubt states.    o o o Rick. R. sent this: Health Story of the …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The founders wanted to set a high bar for the government to overcome in order to deprive an individual of life or liberty,” Paul, the libertarian congressman, said Monday in a weekly phone message to supporters. “To lower that bar is to endanger everyone. When the bar is low enough to include political enemies, our descent into totalitarianism is virtually assured. The Patriot Act, as bad as its violations against the Fourth Amendment was, was just one step down the slippery slope. The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act continues that slip into tyranny, and in fact, accelerates it significantly.” …


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 …


Horse and Rider, by D.O.

After reading “Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse”, I thought I would share a few experiences with horse ownership. I really enjoyed the book, a real page turner. And I wanted to weigh in on the techniques and experiences outlined in the book concerning horses. Let me first say that what was portrayed in Survivors is indeed real and doable, however the techniques and experiences in the book require a good deal of experience and training. For the beginning first time horse owner who isn’t sure how tight to cinch a saddle, I would say getting a horse to …


Letter Re: Learning More Than Just Weak Hand and Shooting

Mr. Rawles,  In many of your posts, and the posts on other sites, I see a recurring theme to practice with weapons using your “off-hand”, but I don’t see this same advice put out for any other activity. All right, so a bit of background: I’m a pretty hard-wired preparedness guy, I prep, I practice, and I thought I was pretty well covered for just about anything until just recently.   I was at work and while transiting from one area to another I slipped and slammed my hand in a large steel latching mechanism on one of the blast …


Economics and Investing:

Kevin K. forwarded this piece by Jim Willie: CME/COMEX Grant JPM Temporary Waiver for Reporting Positions Exceeding Speculative Limits Another nail in the coffin: Yen-Yuan Trade Plan to Cut Dollar Dependence of China, Japan. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) Callie sent this: MF’s Lagarde warns global economy threatened Also from Callie: Yuan hits all-time high Items from The Economatrix: Worse Than 2008 Mark Faber:  “I Am Convinced The Whole Derivatives Market Will Cease To Exist And Will Go To Zero Gold The Protector As Democracies Move Towards Totalitarianism Investors Lose Faith In Stocks As Billions Pour Out Of Funds


Odds ‘n Sods:

Tamara suggested the latest WorldNetDaily piece penned by Patrice Lewis: Peace on Earth, now buy a gun. (OBTW, be sure to also check out her blog, Rural Revolution, which is very strong on family preparedness.)    o o o Glenn Greenwald: Three myths about the detention bill.    o o os The inevitable rush, now that Iowa’s CCW permits are no longer at the whim of county sheriffs: ‘Unbelievable’ rise in weapons permits. (Thanks to SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large Michael Z. Williamson for the link.)    o o o R.B.S. suggested this: How SOPA Will Destroy The Internet.And some related …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 …


How to Make Homemade Dog Food, by D.M.D.

How do we feed our pets when there is no dog food at the grocery or pet stores? Do we give up our pets or panic? Neither, we go back in the days before Iams or Purina and do what our grandparents did to feed their dogs. Now we can fed our pets in a balanced and considered way from what is now known about pet nutrition. So what did people fed their dogs? People fed mostly table scraps or their developed their own recipes. There weren’t the hundreds of dog food varieties as there are now. After World War …


Three Letters Re: Barter, Post-TEOTWAWKI: The Micro Store

Hello James: I thought that the post on barter micro stores was superb. I think additional consideration should be given to “dispense-from-bulk” strategies.  1 pound of petroleum jelly in single use (0.5g) pouches costs $48 from Sam’s Club.  35 pounds (5 gallon bucket) of petroleum jelly costs $90 from an on-line candle supply company.  Similar cost spreads run between single serving bottles of vodka and one gallon bottles and salt in bulk and single serving packets. It is pretty obvious that you will need a secondary container to carry the bulk materials if you are going to put the micro-store …


Economics and Investing:

Mark Faber: “I Am Convinced the Whole Derivatives Market Will Cease to Exist And Will Go to Zero” Alan D. sent this: Fitch Again Warns US Debt Burden Threatens AAA Rating. K.A.F. flagged this: To Survive, Some Biofuels Companies Give Up on Biofuels Items from The Economatrix: MF Global Customer Money Traced To JPMorgan The Shocking Truth About The Pending EU Collapse Ann Barnhardt: Call for General Market Strike Comex:  The March to Irrelevance


Odds ‘n Sods:

Doug Casey on Getting Out of Dodge. This echoes what I wrote in my piece last week about “Taking The Gap.” (Thanks to John R. for the link.)    o o o Kevin S. suggested a thought-provoking piece at the My Adventures in Self Reliance blog for anyone that is planning to “double up” with another family (or multiple families) for mutual security in the event of a disaster: Using #OWS as a learning tool of what happens in a collapse. Time-proven military sanitation standards should be your baseline.    o o o Reader M.J. sent a link to a …