Category: Current Events & Politics

33 Ways to Encourage Atlas to Shrug

Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel “Atlas Shrugged” is enjoying renewed popularity following the release of the new Atlas Shrugged movie. Rand’s story describes a group of American industrialists that lose patience with onerous regulation and taxation, and “shrug”–disappearing from their normal lives to relocate to a hidden valley called Galt’s Gulch. While this tale is fictional, it has some strong parallels to modern-day America. And despite the fact that Ayn Rand was an atheist and favored legalized abortion, she was a good judge of both character and the inevitable tendencies of elected governments. When I consider the regulatory and tax burdens …


Three Related Disasters (Part 3), by Joe Refugee From Tokyo

After the first few days, it was possible to get some idea of what had happened. The initial numbers of fatalities had been fairly low, and it was hard to know how many had survived in the coastal towns. As the phone systems and many roads there were devastated, a big effort was going to be required just to scope out the damage. Sadly, it became clear that well over 10,000 lives were lost. In terms of life in Tokyo, though, it was electricity and basic supplies useful during disasters that became somewhat hard to come by. The other major …


Letter Re: Traces of Radioactive Iodine in the Milk Supply

Sir: It would appear that very low levels of radioiodine (I-131) have been detected in Western US milk, as could be expected. Presently, the contamination from Fukushima is taking over a week to cross the Pacific, and that time, combined with dilution effects, reduces the contamination from the Fukushima disaster to point far below the level of concern. At the present time. It also appears that the fukushima fallout plume is not rising high enough at present to become entrained in the jet stream However, reports from Fukushima, and analysis of the data available, indicates that a containment breach may …


Three Related Disasters (Part 2), by Joe Refugee From Tokyo

Days Two and Three I slept well the night of 11-3-11, which was good, because I hadn’t the two previous nights. A premonition, perhaps? Like the day after September 11th, there was an eerie feeling everywhere. The weather was nice, at least in Tokyo, but a cold front was coming in from the North, so the folks near the Tohoku coast were going to be suffering even more. It was obvious that the damage was off the charts, but the television downplayed the likely deaths, and a big question was whether the government had learned from its poor performance during …


Useful Tidbits on Radiation and Journalists–The Season of Isotopes and Misanthropes

Many readers have been sending me questions about radiation. One, from a reader in Los Angeles asked: “Mr. Rawles, Should I sleep in my basement for the next few weeks?” Please don’t over-react, folks. I must state, forthrightly: 1.) The gamma emitters at the Fukushima reactors (and more importantly, their spent fuel ponds) are a long, long way from America. 2.) In my opinion, the only significant risk to health here in CONUS is possibly a chance that a bit of radioactive dust (with isotopes like Strontium-90 or Iodine-131) could end up deposited on pasture grasses and then subsequently become …


Three Related Disasters (Part 1), by Joe Refugee From Tokyo

Day One Just another day for an American ex-pat in an office in a skyscraper in Tokyo, or so it seemed. There was a nice view in several directions, offering a chance to see a real panorama of the city. In just a few minutes, that view would include large fires and streets packed with cars and people walking. The reason, of course, is it was 11-3-11.   The first inkling of trouble was a minor feeling of movement, and this lasted for perhaps a minute, and then things got worse. The shaking got to where it was time to …


Letter Re: Nuclear Incidents in Japan – The Truth and the Rumors

Hello James, It is with a heavy heart that I watch the nuclear incident unfold in Japan. I am watching my nightmare come true, and I pray for the safety of the people in Japan. As you know, my article that was published in your blog last September was primarily written to alert the public about the possible EMP effects on nuclear power plants. While the initiating event may have been different, the results of the loss of all AC power at the site results in virtually identical consequences. Events are playing out very similarly to those that I had …


Letter Re: A Busy LDS Cannery–People are Sounding Anxious

James, In addition to all the other hats I wear I also am the cannery coordinator for my local LDS congregation. Last night was our canning night — though I am usually the only LDS member to show up and the rest are non-member friends of a similar mind set as we have. Last night was a madhouse at the cannery. Panic has already set in amongst those who are following all the news around the world (and not just fixated on the reactors in Japan). My group is normally around a dozen people. There were three other groups of …


Red Dawn Goes Korean: Digitally-Manipulated Political Correctness

They call it the “dream factory”. Hollywood, they say, is where any dream can be made to appear to come true. Apparently that is still the case: The Los Angeles Times just reported that MGM has magically transformed the villains in the soon-to-be-released remake of the legendary John Milius film Red Dawn from Chinese to North Korean. The change in bad guys was accomplished by creating a new opening sequence summarizing the back story, by re-editing two scenes and by using digital technology to transform many Chinese symbols to Korean. All this cost only about $1 million in additional post-production …


Three Letters Re: The Earthquake in Japan and its Aftermath

Dear James,   I just wanted to alert you to the possible impact of what is actually happening at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant.  The grid has gone down, and it appears that the emergency diesel generators have failed.  There is apparently no off-site or on-site AC power.  This is very similar to the scenario that I outlined in my article posted last September in SurvivalBlog (except for the precipitating event for my article described an EMP event).  We have a potential disaster worse than Chernobyl in the making.   In fact, even the mainstream media is now taking note.  Here is …


Magazine Ban Legislation: Ignorant Statists and Terminology-Challenged Journalists, Unite!

Democrat congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy’s magazine ban bill (previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog) will likely die in committee. It has attracted 90 co-sponsors–hardly a “barn burning issue.” But meanwhile, of greater concern there are several bans being pushed at the state level: The first case in point comes to by way of a Buffalo, New York newspaper headline: Gun-toting senator pushes gun safety bill. “Gun safety”??? That is pure cant. A more accurate title for the article would be: Senator pushes New York law to ban sale, purchase, or possession of 11+ round magazines. It is notable that this law would eliminate …


Letter Re: The Coming Shortage of Nickels

Jim,    Your readers might be interested to know that banks [where I live in California] have started charging a fee for rolled U.S [five cent piece] nickels. I’ve been going to Wells Fargo Bank ever since you wrote about the subject, several years ago, gradually obtaining nickels at cost.  Yesterday, I found that they’ve begun charging 7.5% per $100 box.  Another local bank, beginning in March, has started charging 10% per roll of nickels.  Word is getting out: Gresham’s Law is intact. –  Paul B.


Letter Re: Silver Coins with a Very Low Likelihood of Fakery

Hi James, I’ve been suspicious about the possibility of silver coins being faked ever since reading your links about tungsten “gold” and think I’ve come up with an answer.  As long as you’re not looking for collectibles, just buy second-quality silver coins – modern ones like Liberty one-ounce silver rounds, not numismatics.  You know, the coins that are scratched, dented, and discolored.  They clean up just fine with a little Wright’s silver polish.  Who the heck is going to counterfeit dents, scratches, worn spots and discoloration?  Also, they’re [relatively] inexpensive.  These are the “junk silver” version of (.999) silver coins …


Letter Re: When Alaskan Salmon is Chinese

Hi, Jim: Every few weeks I buy a couple cases (of 24 cans) of canned wild Alaskan salmon canned by Bumble Bee selling for $1.99 per can (a 14.5oz can), and a quality gold tinted tapered can. Recently it has had a 2015 expiration date. In my estimation, wild salmon is an excellent unadulterated protein source with a lengthy expiration date, especially when compared to canned tuna (with traces of mercury) and canned chicken.    Well, yesterday I went in to the same discount supermarket (the kind of no-frills market where you bag yourself and pay extra for the bag) …


Letter Re: Gauging Government Over-Spending

Dear Mr. Rawles, Thank you for your hard work on the blog. I did some thinking and research today concerning the Federal budget and want to share what I found with you. How much does the Federal government spend and how do we put this into context? There are several ways to look at this data. First, one can compare the dollars spent today versus those spent in 1962. Using the data from supportingevidence.com, I found: The government spent $106,821,000,000.00 in 1962 (106 billion dollars) according to http://federal-budget.findthebest.com/detail/64/1962. However, adjusted for inflation this would be about 700 billion dollars. The …