Note from JWR:

Because we phased out our old Earthlink e-mail address, we’ve had to update our PayPal account. Our new PayPal account address is: james@rawles.to Please use this new PayPal address for any 10 Cent Challenge voluntary subscription payments or advertising payments. (I’ve updated the relevant links.) As I’ve mentioned before, I strongly prefer AlertPay or GearPay because they don’t share PayPal’s anti-gun political agenda. Our AlertPay address is: rawles@usa.net Our GearPay address is: rawles@usa.net We are also gradually transitioning to our Tonga (.to) domain for our primary e-mail address: james@rawles.to. Please update your address books. Thanks!


The New Washington, DC Paradigm Does Not Bode Well for Economic Recovery or Gun Ownership

Wednesday’s news of passage of the “supplementary” TARP II $900 billion stimulus and bailout legislative package in the House of Representatives is noteworthy. The fact that it passed with hardly a whimper is evidence that Congress cannot be trusted to show any fiscal restraint. According to the Wall Street Journal only about 12 cents of every dollar appropriated in that legislation will go for something that can be considered a growth stimulus, yet there was no lengthy or substantive debate on the bill. The floodgates of the Treasury have been opened! The Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB) is now sure …


Letter Re: A Handy Book for Boys

I’ve only recently become a SurvivalBlog reader, but I thought I’d share some info about a book I’ve had sitting on my shelf for quite some time. I’d never really put any thought into its usefulness until lately. It’s called The American Boy’s Handybook. I first caught sight of it several years ago, way back in Elementary School, when I was just a little cuss, not the full sized cuss I’ve grown up to be. Like the title says, the book itself is geared toward the younger generation, ages 8 – 18+. But there is a wealth of information that …


Two Letters Re: More Predictions for 2009, by Roger Wiegand

Good Morning, Jim! This is a response to “More Predictions for 2009”: We can’t make other peoples’ choices for them, but we can be affected by them. We are our brothers’ keepers, but not their masters. Governments will always do what they always do. You need to be concerned with your “mini government” – your own household. Wherein the adults are the governing body and are also constituents (along with any dependents). I choose to focus on what I can control and not toil and spin about the stuff I can’t control. My predictions for 2009? – My wife and …


Odds ‘n Sods:

“The Survivalist” mentioned this article: More than a million wait in icy darkness across US    o o o As most SurvivalBlog readers surely deduced long ago, I am an inveterate scrounger. I scan through Craig’s List with the same regularity as the Bald Eagles that cruise up and down The Unnamed River here at the Rawles Ranch do, at this time of year. So I was delighted that while doing some web wandering today, I found a link over at Keep and Bear Arms to this inspirational article: Praxis: Scavenging as a Guerrilla Art Form.    o o o …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“One aspect of the red state versus blue state dynamic of the country which is often overlooked, is that while the Blue States have come out on top politically, the red states are much more self-sufficient in resources and infrastructure. In a time of crisis this underlying dynamic would become painfully obvious, as overpopulated and undersupplied states in the North and Midwest began demanding resources from politically disenfranchised states in the South and West where most of the agricultural and energy resources are located. When the force of the federal government is turned to massive redistribution of wealth and resources, …


Letter Re: Mini-14s as Battle Rifles?

Hello, Is a Ruger [Mini-14 .223] Ranch Rifle a good low cost battle rifle choice? Apparently they are not for anything past “medium range”. (Honestly I don’t know what that means.) Although the new Mini-14s [with] 580[-prefix] serial numbers are supposedly more accurate at longer ranges than previous Ranch Rifles. I am interested in going to an Appleseed event sometime later this year and was wondering if this might work for their program. Also if it is a good gun I was going to go ahead and buy the 20 round factory Ruger magazines. Thanks, – Clint C. JWR Replies: …


Letter Re: Handy Uses for Thermite

James: I followed a link from your site and ended up at the DBC Pyrotechnics site, looking at a lot of 10 Thermite “all weather fire starters”. It seems like a very handy tool to have – cold weather fire starters like that. I wonder if any other readers of your novel might find them useful. A lot of 100 of those might be just a very useful thing to add into someone’s retreat supplies. Now if I can just find a place that offers pre-mixed bulk thermite, I might build some nice #2 can-size thermite devices, in case I …


Three Letters Re: The Gray Man in the Coming Storm

Jim: On Tuesday Jan. 27th, SurvivalBlog readers found 12 [follow-up] letters concerning the recent “Gray Man” letter. I believe the writer’s of the majority of those letters need to go back and re-read the original Gray Man post. That post included several suggestions for “surviving” within an area of control of a repressive government. They included putting pro-government bumper stickers on your car, checking out pro-government library books, accepting with a smile the government ID chip, gladly taking and using a government credit card and thanking the government for doing a good job. These are not “Gray Man hide in …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Thanks to Laura H. for this link: California prepares to stop paying bills: Come Feb. 1, tax refunds, welfare checks replaced with IOUs    o o o From The Appenzell Daily Bell: U.S. ratchets up pressure on UBS. Banking privacy may indeed be another casualty of the global economic crisis.    o o o Bill N. suggested a short article on using the shotgun for defense.    o o o More economic news, starting with this from Scott N.: Thousands stuck in property funds as Standard halts exits. (Does this sound familiar? As I’ve been warning people for two years, …



Notes from JWR:

The current high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is at $1,160. This auction is for a large mixed lot, which includes:: 1.) A “be ready to barter” box of 36 full-capacity gun magazines, from my personal collection in JASBORR. This box includes: 12 – Used original Bundeswehr contract HK91 (G3) steel 20 round magazines, 6 – Used original Austrian FN-FAL steel 20 round magazines, with cartridge counter holes, 10 – Used AR-15/M16 USGI (all Colt made!) alloy 20 round magazines, 6 – Excellent condition original Glock Model 19 9mm 15 round pistol magazines (early type, with “U” notch), and …


More Predictions for 2009, by Roger Wiegand

Our new president was inaugurated and we wish him well for the sake of our nation and others throughout the world. We do not want to be cynical but must be realistic. We think this year will be the worst one of this longer recession-depression cycle and our new leader, we suspect is going to take a merciless pounding from a heap of troubles domestically first and foreign later. Thankfully, the spending of TARP #2 and whatever billions-trillions are added for emphasis, should give us the Obama Market Bounce lasting perhaps 90 days or so. While this economics plan has …


Another SurvivalBlogger’s Experiences at Front Sight

Mr. Rawles, I finally had a chance to use the Front Sight certificate that I won in your writing contest. I took the Practical Rifle class and it was great. My shooting improved dramatically in just a few days. I wanted to get out of the Washington, DC area for the inauguration of Barack Obama and shooting an AR-15 rifle seemed like an especially good diversion. Its a long trip for me but it was worth it and I hope to make it again and send my boys when they are old enough. I was able to use frequent flyer …


Odds ‘n Sods:

My mentor Dr. Gary North recommended a video slide show over at iTulip,com. Gary’s description: “A Low-Budget, Four-Minute Video Makes the Strongest Case I Have Seen for the Magnitude of This Crisis“    o o o The folks at Seed For Security (one of our advertisers) have expanded their web page of free self-sufficiency reference articles. BTW, my philosophy on gardening is to concentrate on non-hybrid plants. the “open pollinated” or “heirloom” varieties. Gain experience gardening with those varieties, and practice harvesting and saving seed. “Buy what you plant,and plant what you buy.”    o o o Reader T.U. wrote …