Odds ‘n Sods:

I heard that the makers of Polar Pure water purifier had a visit from the DEA this week. They have plans to so highly regulate the distribution of iodine crystals that they will soon run the family owned and operated company out of business. (They make just one product.) The DEA said that they will expect retailers to get a photocopy of each buyer’s driver’s license, keep track of the quantities purchased, report “suspicious” purchases (with an as yet-to-be determined threshold) maintain the records for at least two years, and on and on. ll this because iodine has been deemed a “precursor” chemical for the illicit production of methamphetamine (“meth”)..The owner of Polar Pure said that he “tried to negotiate” with the DEA agents, but ” they weren’t in the mood to negotiate.” The bottom line: Rather than jump through the bureaucratic flame-filled hoops, the company will probably just shut down. I strongly recommend that SurvivalBlog readers buy their lifetime supply of Polar Pure as soon as possible, before it is heavily regulated and the new record keeping rules go into effect. You should probably buy at least 3 or 4 bottles per family member. At last count, the folks at Ready Made Resources only had 180 bottles left in stock. Once this is posted, I suspect that their inventory will sell out within just a couple of days. After that, there will be no more.

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Hardly a Surprise Department: Financial Services job cuts soar on housing woes. We also read of more “difficulties”, a la Countrywide, just as we predicted: Accredited Home Lenders Shuts Down Much of Its Business

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China to install sensors along NAFTA highway

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Cylindrical wind power generators in development in Australia