David in Israel Re: “Peak Oil” and North American Oil Reserves

James: I have a reply to SurvivalBlog reader John Z.’s comment on Untapped North American Oil Reserves What many non-geoligist/chemist oil commentators forget (likely are fighting a political and economic panic) when they feel safe in our huge North American reserves is the problem of either extraction or processing. Most of the light sweet crude (easy to extract transport and crack) has already been discovered I do not know of any new light sweets (of any size) in over 10 years. Heavy sour requires different less efficient chemistry in the refining process (much more sulfur) and the USA only has …




Letter Re: New Routes for the Next Houston Hurricane Evacuation

Jim, Between work and studies, I came across an article in my local newspaper about new evacuation routes for the Houston area during hurricane season. I stayed out of the last one, but came real close to riding my bike to College Station, our evac[uation] rendezvous point. I don’t think the police would have taken kindly to someone riding down the highway on a Schwinn with a Remington 870 on his back. Anyway, the article got me thinking about the gridlock people suffered and the ensuing confusion that lasted for a couple of days. If I didn’t see anything on …




Two Letters Re: Dealing with Illegal Immigration in the U.S.

Mr. Rawles: This is in response to Michael Z Williamson’s arguments concerning the ongoing illegal alien problem. I have heard his arguments for the past 20 years..they are repeated over and over on talk radio (in my consideration a waste of time–most people simply regurgitate what the government suggests via the talk radio host, usually a buffoon more interested in his 6 or 7 figure salary than solving problems). We as a nation have an obligation and a duty to retain our borders, culture and language. We owe it to those that came before us and to those that will …




Letter Re: Dealing with Illegal Immigration in the U.S.

Jim, I must respectfully disagree with your suggestions for dealing with illegal immigration. You stated: 1.) A stout fence and plenty of sensors, regardless of the cost, to make the southern border less porous. I believe this would be an utter waste of time and money. Here’s what I anticipate from that: Tunnels under, which already exist for the drug trade. I also heard of a case where near 1000 Mexicans just swarmed a border crossing on foot. Perhaps 1 in 10 was rounded up. Attacking the fence will become a sport–coyotes and dogs will be goaded across minefields, or …




Letter Re: Angst, Life in Turbulent Times, and Preparedness

Jim, I read your commentary today; I’ve never ever had a very good crystal ball, but any good analysis could see what’s coming long term… Sorry for being long winded… I’m up late working on a project and some of what I’ve been reading in the news has been troubling me… It’s the [Chinese President Hu [Jintao] visit… With the Chinese economy growing at double-digits and their defense budget growing at double digits and they being the four largest economy in the world. I found an interesting piece in Defense Industry Daily. It’s only a matter of time… We gave …




Responding to the Ongoing Middle East Crisis

There are a great many imponderables that have surfaced with the current saber-rattling situation in the Middle East. But one thing is clear–the uncertainty is rippling through the commodities markets. I guess you’ve all seen the higher prices at the gas pump, and the precious metals are spiking. For example, see the charts at Kitco. (To get the big picture, click on the one year chart, down at the bottom of that web page.) Silver was over $13.50 per ounce yesterday afternoon! What can you do? 1.) Pray for peace. Please pray for the survival of the people and nation …




Letter Re: Illegal Alien Invasion in the United States

Jim: I noticed that you have remained relatively quiet on the millions of illegal aliens that have been demonstrating in dozens of American cities this past week..was wondering if you considered the Marxist led demonstrations that call for the death, expulsion of Americans on our own soil by foreigners a threat or a concern? I find it disheartening that so many are chiming in about potential asteroid strikes yet no comments about the very real and present threat posed by so many millions right in our own midst. Hope American wake up, its seems that the 12-20 million illegal aliens …




Letter Re: Letters on Asteroid or Comet Impact in 2012? by Rourke

Jim: It was funny that the majority of the criticism to my last writing had to do with the Mayan calendar and the Bible Code since I didn’t consider that my main focus and was meant as a lead in. I will say most prophecy is simply too vague to be useful, and the only time it really catches my attention is when separate sources, separated by thousands of miles, hundreds or thousands of years, and of different religions and cultures, somehow reach the same conclusion. My real intent was more so to play “connect the dots” with what NASA …




Four Letters Re: Asteroid or Comet Impact in 2012? by Rourke

Jim: I’d like to add some input to the meteor thread. First, there’s a near complete (based on our knowledge) and growing database at: http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/ that shows the residual effects of quite a few impacts. Megaton range impacts occur surprisingly frequently–about once a century. Tunguska level events (that killed almost everything in 2000 sq miles) occur about every thousand years. I don’t like Deep Impact as a scenario, because I cannot for the life of me see 300 million Americans, not to mention the rest of the world, just accepting that a select few will go into a safe cavern, …




Asteroid or Comet Impact in 2012?, by Rourke

The abrupt ending of the Mayan calendar in December of 2012 has long been assumed to be an astrological catastrophic event for Earth (http://survive2012.com). More recently, the Bible Code has produced passages/matrixes that seem to announce a comet impact in 2012 (http://www.satansrapture.com/nasa2012.htm). [JWR Adds: Beware! Not Biblically supported doctrine at that site!] There are said to be two conflicting matrixes, once saying the Earth is annihilated, the other that the comet is annihilated. I realize what most people think of prophecy (unreliable, to say the least), so let’s take a more scientific look at this, and consider that if there …




A “Must Read” Article From France On Iran

The Laboratoire européen d’Anticipation Politique Europe 2020, LEAP/E2020, just posted a “must read” article. The article begins: “The Laboratoire européen d’Anticipation Politique Europe 2020 now estimates to over 80% the probability that the week of March 20-26, 2006 will be the beginning of the most significant political crisis the world has known since the Fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, together with an economic and financial crisis of a scope comparable with that of 1929…” See: http://www.europe2020.org/en/section_global/150206.htm




A “Must Read” Article From France On Iran

The Laboratoire européen d’Anticipation Politique Europe 2020, LEAP/E2020, just posted a “must read” article. The article begins: “The Laboratoire européen d’Anticipation Politique Europe 2020 now estimates to over 80% the probability that the week of March 20-26, 2006 will be the beginning of the most significant political crisis the world has known since the Fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, together with an economic and financial crisis of a scope comparable with that of 1929…” See: http://www.europe2020.org/en/section_global/150206.htm




More On Precious Metals, The Iranian Nuclear Situation, The Iranian Oil Bourse, and the New Silver ETF

I’ve had more than a dozen e-mails from SurvivalBlog readers in recent weeks regarding Iran’s plans open a new oil bourse in March that will be denominated in Euros. Meanwhile there is lots of saber rattling going on, regarding Iran’s nuclear program–leading to the prospect of an Iranian oil embargo, which could of course mean very bad things for the U.S. economy. I have no idea how these two semi-related situations will play out. I’d be a fool to say that I knew. Aside for a few Ayatollahs, nobody knows. All that I can tell you is that these situations spell …




Product Review: Safecastle’s New Compact “ScramKit”

A SurvivalBlog reader in Montana recommended that I take a look at the new compact “ScramKits” being offered by Safecastle. I must say that I’m impressed. They pack a lot of survival gear into a very small space. Their “Responder Personal” kit is in effect a miniature “Get Out of Dodge” (G.O.O.D.) kit or “bug out bag” (BOB) that you should keep in your car’s glove box or center console box at all times. This kit fits in its own heavy duty belt pouch (available in three different colors) with ALICE/MOLLE attachments  I think that the ScramKit makes the ideal …




Letter Re: Getting Your Group to Buy In: The $20 Medical Kit, By EMT J.N.

Dear Mr. Rawles, I was very interested in the blog on the $20 medical kit. I was thinking of the situation where in the event of a major storm, hurricane, blizzard, fuel crisis, nuclear attack or where transportation and communications are severely disrupted over a wide area for an extended period, it may not be possible to get to the doctor or pharmacy or if one could get there, it may not be open due to a lack of electric power or severe damage to the facility. Instead of discussing a group buy, a more practical approach may be the …