State By State – Oregon

Oregon: Population: 3.4 million. Population Density: 35 per square mile (Rank 9 of JWR’s top 19 states) (The highest density is in the northwest part of the state. It is much lower elsewhere, particular eastern 2/3rds of the state.) Area: 97,000 square miles (rank 10 of 50). Average car insurance cost: $704/yr. (rank 35 of 50). Average home insurance cost: $343/yr. (rank 47 of 50). Crime Safety Ranking: 18 of 50. Boston T. Party’s State Firearms Laws Ranking: 65%. Per capita income: $27,660 (rank 25 of 50). ACT & SAT Scores Ranking: 10 of 50 (tied with Washington). Plusses: No …


Letter Re: First Hand Account from New Orleans

The following comes to us from a SurvivalBlog reader who was deployed with a WMD/Hazmat Team to New Orleans, very soon after the hurricane struck. Cellular phone difficulties and 15+ hour work days kept him from making reports to SurvivalBlog as he had originally planned. James: I’m very sorry that I couldn’t make contact [while there] and keep you all up to date with the Katrina Deployment. I rotated out of New Orleans yesterday and made it home it time for my daughter’s 16th birthday. Quite an emotional ride, to say the least. Katrina…wow…First I want to say thanks to …


Letter from “Dr. Buckaroo Banzai” on Living Debt Free and Retreat

Shortly before Katrina hit I eliminated all of my unsecured debt. At the moment we have just the mortgage and two car payments (aside from utilities and insurance payments.) We put a 48 month plan into action. Every month we ‘bank’ a percentage of our income, roughly $1,000 USD a month. At the moment it’s going into the safe and we are entering month 3 and are at $2,000 and right on track. Our car payments will be done before the 48 months are up and 100% of that will then also be going towards our new home/retreat. We are …



Letter from Matt Bracken Re: Sailboat Retreating, LP and Natural Gas Powered Vehicles, Diesel Engine Invulnerability to EMP

Dear Jim, Excellent blog, it has really taken off, and I recommend it constantly. I have it on my desktop to read first thing every morning. Currently I’m living in coastal southern California, but plan to relocate in 2006. Much like New Orleans, Southern California is also “under water,” or in our case, dependent on distant water supplies for over 90% of our fresh water needs. In the event of a terrorist attack or major earthquake which disrupts the water supply, SoCal will “go New Orleans” in a matter of days. On the plus side, I have a 48 foot …


Letter Re: Advice on Iowa’s Retreat Potential, and Pulling Through Screenplay

Dear Mr. Rawles, Just wanted to ask why Iowa didn’t make the list of 19? If you could write a small blurb, it would be much appreciated. Also wanted to thank you for making your “Pulling Through” screenplay available. Great read!!!!!!! I can’t wait for the movie. Should be done for T.V. to put out much needed info to the greater portion of the uninformed public. It would make life much easier on the rest of us to not have to inform people piecemeal one-at-a-time of things they need to know. Should be an ongoing series after “Katrina” it should …




State By State – Oklahoma

Oklahoma: Population: 3.4 million. Population Density: 48.5 per square mile (Rank 6 of JWR’s top 19 states). Area: 70,000 square miles (rank 18 of 50). Average car insurance cost: $736/yr. (rank 26 of 50). Average home insurance cost: $612/yr. (rank 5 of 50). Crime Safety Ranking: 33 of 50. Boston T. Party’s State Firearms Laws Ranking: 80%. Per capita income: $23,650 (rank 42 of 50). ACT & SAT Scores Ranking: 23 of 50. Plusses: Minimally regulated home schooling. Minuses: Fairly high population density (by western U.S. standards.) Fairly high crime rate. Tornado prone (ranked #3 out of top 20 States) …


Letter from The Army Aviator Re: EMP and Troops Shortchanged on Helmets, Etc.

It seems to me that I was reading some of Reason Kearney’s writings and he said the EMP damage to cars, etc was waaaay overrated. Of course, that was back when cars had a lot of non-solid state stuff and tube radios. I do remember he said all you had to do to protect the radio was ground the antenna to the car body. (Tube radio, I expect) and not to worry about the alternator and starter (unless you were smack dab in the middle of the flash). When he wrote that, we already had alternators in lieu of generators. …


Letter Re: Report from New Orleans

Jim, I got back into the National Guard (I got an ‘old man’ waiver). I am with the [Deleted for OPSEC]th Military Police (M.P.) Company. I am presently deployed with the hurricane relief. Even though I have been a ‘survivalist’ (whatever that means) for years, I have learned quite a bit this last month, some of which may move me more from ‘armchair’ to active survivalism. Our M.P. Company was activated and we are helping with the hurricane relief not far from New Orleans. We have not seen much nastiness where we are, but our daily ‘police sheet’ sounds like …


From David in Israel Re: Replacing Bugout Bag Essentials

A huge fault I see in the survivalist planning of most people is to purchase and stock their bugout bag with the best and most carefully chosen equipment that mail order and eBay can provide years of loving care go into their Bugout Bag (BOB); I consider myself in this group. The potential “survival failure” comes if this gear is lost or taken. Some people have have no idea how to substitute or replace their gear. You should hopefully have a good idea of the chemistry and physics of your gear and at least have the possibility of repair or …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds are against you and only a precious chance of survival. There may be even a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." – Winston Churchill



State By State – North Dakota

North Dakota: Population: 642,200. Population Density: 9 per square mile (Rank 17 of JWR’s top 19 states). Area: 70,700 square miles (rank 17 of 50). Average car insurance cost: $601/yr. (rank 49 of 50). Average home insurance cost: $426/yr. (rank 33 of 50). Crime Safety Ranking: 2 of 50. Boston T. Party’s State Firearms Laws Ranking: 61%. Per capita income: $24,708 (rank 38 of 50). ACT & SAT Scores Ranking: 6 of 50. Plusses: very low population density. Extremely low crime rate. Extremely low car insurance rates. With the decline in family farming, the state has actually de-populated, leaving real …