Odds ‘n Sods:

F.G. alerted me to this article: Companies are now shorting (cheating) on propane tank refills.

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Linda P. pointed out a closeout sale on Bennington Flags (the official SurvivalBlog low-key meetup flag), at FlagGuys.com.

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Craig W. spotted this article from San Diego, California: They Carry Guns. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Much like a muscle that atrophies with disuse, any right that goes unexercised for many years devolves into a privilege, and eventually can even be redefined as a crime.

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A legislative alert from Gun Owners of America: A vote to protect your right to travel out-of-state with a firearm could come to a vote next week — even as early as Monday (July 20th)! Senators John Thune and David Vitter are the sponsors of S. 845 — a bill that will establish concealed carry reciprocity amongst the several states.This bill is being offered the bill as an
amendment (#1618) to the Department of Defense authorization bill (H.R. 2647). This provision will use the constitutional authority allowing Congress to enforce “full faith and credit”
across the country, so that each state respects the “public acts, records, and judicial proceedings” of every other state (Article IV). The benefit of the Thune/Vitter legislation is that —
unlike other, competing measures — it would protect the right of any U.S. citizen to carry out of state (regardless of whether he possesses a permit), as long as he is authorized to carry in his home state. This is important because of states like Vermont and Alaska, where residents can carry concealed without prior approval or permission from the state… in other words, without a permit!
Please urge your Senators to vote yes on the Thune/Vitter concealed carry reciprocity amendment and no on any modifying amendments.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 23 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Savings and Self-Sufficiency with Homemade Laundry Detergent, by Carla

What would make someone want to make their own laundry detergent? It is so convenient to go to the store and get a ready made, nicely package, conveniently mixed, nice smelling, make your clothes fresher and your life better if you use me, laundry detergent. My husband and I have always had a preparedness mentality-we live 10 miles from a grocery store and 20 miles from a Wal-Mart. You don’t just run up the street to buy a roll of toilet paper. We prepared for Y2K and have always thought “what if.” We don’t worry, for we know God is in control and is truly the provider, but feel he leaves it up to us to do the leg work.

[Some deleted, for brevity]

Not only am I preparing for my family, but I have neighbors that will ultimately need some help, extended family members that are not in the position financially to be able to stock up and hopefully enough to barter if necessary. So as I buy, it is on my mind “How far will this go to feed possibly 10-to-15 people?” Soup ingredients, meat extenders, et cetera are some of the things that will help to feed a lot on a little. Not wasting the money we have and are trying to save up, making sure I spend wisely for the money is of utmost importance.

I started looking for ways to “substitute” my own homemade items for those that we normally buy. Homemade mixes for Bisquick, brownies, rice mixes, etc., anything that saves money is on my lists. One of the most expensive-even though I would lean to the least expensive side-was laundry detergent. It is an item where you are literally throwing your money down the drain. I began to look on the web for ways to make my own, and lo and behold I came across a lot of formulas. I started making my own and have passed the recipe to many friends. They can’t thank me enough! It is as good and in my humble opinion, better than the most expensive store-bought laundry detergent. When you figure the costs savings, it is outstanding! Even if you are not “into” preparedness, it is just a great way to save money in these harder times. I find my ingredients at the local Kroger’s [grocery] store and one of the items can be bought at Wal-Mart, but for the few cents savings, unless I am going there for many more items, the time factor and extra mileage, it is just not worth it. Trying to buy laundry detergent in bulk, the storage problem and costs factor, is really diminished by making your own. I have tweaked the use part of this recipe to suit me, but will give you the total information and then let each decide on their own.

Homemade Laundry Detergent — Makes Enough for About 180 Loads

1 Bar – Fels Naptha soap ($1.29 for a 5-1/2 ounce bar)
1 cup – Washing soda $3.99 55 ounce box (do not confuse this with baking soda)
1/2 cup – Borax ($3.49 for a 76 ounce box on sale price, regular price is $3.99) This is the old 20 Mule Team brand, and this can be found at Wal-Mart.)
1 – 5 gal. HDPE plastic utility bucket with lid. These are often available free from bakeries, or approximately $4-tio $5 at [Sam’s Club or] Wal-Mart, or your local paint store)

Grate the Fels Naptha soap into small pieces. You can chop it with a knife, cheese grater, or food processor. Heat four quarts of water in a large, heavy saucepan on top of stove and add soap, stirring constantly till melted. This will take a while depending on the size of your grated pieces. Meanwhile, fill the five gallon bucket half full with warm water. Add the 1 cup of washing soda and the 1/2 cup of Borax and stir well. When soap is melted pour into bucket, then continue to fill bucket with warm water until full. Stir well and let sit overnight until cool. This “concentrate” will thicken as it sits. Stir before using. Now, I use this concentrate straight out of the bucket and use 1/3 cup per large load. The original instructions said to save an old laundry detergent container, fill half full with concentrate then add water to top. Shake and use 5/8ths cup per large load. Repeat till your concentrate is gone. This will give you 10 gallons of laundry detergent. That just seemed more trouble than necessary. So I use the concentrate as-is. No need to have to make room for another container. You will have enough leftover soda and Borax to make approximately five more buckets of detergent. You will have to buy more soap. The costs for one 5-gallon bucket (not including the bucket) is approximately $2.40. If you compared that to the expensive brand of concentrate @ $20.00 per container, just think of the savings and that is if your store bought container makes 180 loads! Since I don’t buy the twenty dollar Tide brand, I’m not sure if that is for 180 loads, so the savings could be a lot more. $14.40 for a total of six 5-gallon buckets compared to $120 for six containers of Tide 2X concentrate. In a small space, enough to hold 1 box of Borax, 1 box of washing soda and 6 bars of Fels Naptha you can have better cleaning power than six containers of store bought laundry detergent. This will also save more than $100!

I have a niece that uses Ivory bar soap, which is cheaper than the Fels Naptha and is totally pleased with her product. The Borax and washing soda have many other household uses also, as the detergent would not. Making my own has gotten me hooked on doing many other things for myself. Why pay someone to do the mixing? It would be nice to put the savings into a jar, but there are too many other things that we need to get ready for when TEOTWAWKI comes along. It is good to look at my pantry that God has provided and know that my family will not go hungry. We can stay clean, one of the most important factors in hard times, thanks to many of the good articles that you have on the blog.

I just read today about using a 5 gallon bucket and making a washing “machine.” We have many things that we still need, but are working on acquiring and every time there is a new entry marked off the list, it gives us a sense of security knowing that is one thing we won’t have to worry about. We have encouraged others that we know are capable to do likewise. Not necessarily because they believe [in disaster preparedness] as we do, but to just be good stewards of what the Lord has given us. Whether it is an ice storm, which we have made it through several times comfortably, or tornado damage and electricity out for 4-to-5 days, we can survive easily. I’m thankful for all you folks who are teaching me what to do and how to do it. Saving money in small ways makes it easier to acquire more of the needful things. – Carla

Two Letters Re: Recommendations on Discreet Self Defense Weapons and Training

Jim,
First, here’s a link to an article on self defense considerations in Britain.

I prefer a variation on the pocket stick known as a koppo stick. A koppo stick is a pocket stick with a piece of cord that loops around the outside of the ring and middle fingers. This cord helps with stick retention and allows for open hand and gripping techniques.

I usually carry my koppo in my weak hand at the ready. This frees up my strong hand to draw my primary weapon and the cord retention system allows the weak hand to perform other tasks such as slide manipulation. Planned use of the stick is for primary weapon retention and to gain enough time/space to draw the primary weapon (if available and warranted).

Here is a page on how to convert a pocket flashlight into a koppo stick.

Here’s the LED flashlight that I converted (available through Sears):

Finally, here’s a YouTube video on the subject.

Enjoy! – Rick H.

 

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I’ve got something for the guy in suburban London. England is a rainy area – isn’t´t it? So try this unbreakable umbrella.

And here´s something on video about how to use canes for self-defense.

Thank you! – Joe B.

Economics and Investing:

Some impeccable logic from Vice President Joe Biden: ‘We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt’

From Greg C.: Foreclosures at record high in first half 2009 despite aid

Frequent content contributor Karen H. sent the following items:

Port of Long Beach imports down 28.4%

Foreclosures rise 15% in the first half of 2009

Dem health RX a Poi$on Pill in NY – Terrifying 57% Tax looms for biggest earners.

Social Security spends $700,000 on Phoenix Conference

Industrial Production down 13.6%

Map of Hardest Hit Regions of Unemployment in the U.K.

CIT moving toward bankruptcy.

Verleger Sees $20 Oil this Year on ‘Devastating’ Glut “Crude oil will collapse to $20 a barrel this year as the recession takes a deeper toll on fuel demand, according to academic and former U.S. government adviser Philip Verleger.”

Items from The Economatrix:s

Food Prices Falling on US Stores

The five latest failures: Bank of Wyoming Failed (#53), First Piedmont Bank (#54), BankFirst (#55), Vinyard Bank (#56), and Temecula Valley Bank (#57). Gee, and we’ve been told that Wyoming was one of the states hurt the least by the recession…

Bankruptcy Filings Up 33% Over Past 12 Months

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Bill B. mentioned this piece by the author of the popular novel One Second After, William R. Forstchen: “EMP 101” A Basic Primer & Suggestions for Preparedness

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Greg C. sent a link to a Rasmussen Reports article: The Audacity of Self-defense

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EMB spotted an interesting new site: GippersList.com. It is an alternative to Craigslist, for conservatives, I assume that they will allow firearms and ammunition ads. (Which, of course, the politically correct Craigslist won’t.)

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Only in America Department: Dealer offers AK-47 with each new truck purchase (A hat tip to Jeff D. for the link.)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

" …vaults of the central banks and return to the pockets and purses of private individuals, for gold is the only really sound money with intrinsic value. The desire to return to gold is understandable, and we hope to see it realized some day, although the argument in favor of the gold standard is not always stated in a valid way. The distinctive function of gold money does not consist in its intrinsic value or in the constancy of that value, which fluctuates even in the absence of government intervention. The excellence of metallic money in free circulation consists in the fact that it renders impossible the abuse of power of the government to dispose of the possessions of its citizens by means of its monetary policy and thus serves as the solid foundation of economic liberty within each country and of free trade between one country and another. – Faustino Ballve, Essentials of Economics, 1958

Notes from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 23 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

An Introductory Note: The writer of this article has politics that differ from my own (and probably the majority of SurvivalBlog readers). He is an eastern liberal populist, while I am a western conservative libertarian. You might wonder why I’m providing him a soapbox. I’m doing so in part to show where we have some common ground, but just as importantly because Mr. Valenza’s viewpoint might become prevalent in the next few years, and protests may be coming to a neighborhood near you. Hence, if you are a mortgage holder, you might view this with alarm, while those of you that are under threat of foreclosure and eviction might see Valenza’s stance as positive in some ways. If nothing else, this article illustrates a political aspect of the “we/they paradigm” that might lead to some public protests and fisticuffs in the near future. It all comes down to where you put yourself on the continuums of scale of government, access to (and resort to) force, individual liberty, and the right to own property. Where things gets fuzzy–at least for some–are the concepts of private ownership, the integrity of binding legal contracts, and the often misapplied concept of “social justice.” I predict that the next decade will be tumultuous. Choose your locale well, fully consider your affiliations, prepare prudently, pick your fights carefully and deliberately, and don’t get caught on the receiving end of either a billy club or a pitchfork. That is, unless you know in your heart that you truly are in the right, and engaged in a struggle worth dying for.

Three Rules for Living Through the Second Depression, by Chaz Valenza

I believe we are on the precipice of the Second Depression. Though President Obama is working valiantly to turn the country’s financial ship, it appears to me that the lack of a genuine
economic engine to create sufficient, sustaining, value-adding jobs will come too late. What should the common man do?

Much of the advice on how to live through such hard times is often too specific, not specific enough or draconian. How many of us are ready or should even consider survivalist methods? Who among us can afford to completely restructure their finances on a moment’s notice? Which of us can effectively plan now for the unforeseen severity we may or may not face?

Often to my amusement, I have found that everything in life can be boiled down to Three Rules that pretty much envelop the whole enchilada. I call these simple statements of essential truth a “Three Rules” poem. They can be fun, amusing, thoughtful, whimsical, et cetera. This one, presented for your approval and commentary, is dead serious.

Properly deduced, by sorting through the minutiae to find the lowest common denominator, a given Three Rules won’t tell you exactly what to do, but they should provide the framework for recognizing actions to a successful conclusion.

Here are mine:

Three Rules for Living through the Second Depression

1. Escape and avoid entanglements with scams and the authorities.

2. Stick together to defend each others right to food and shelter.

3. Make yourself useful.

Allow me to elucidate on each of the above.

Escape and avoid entanglements with scams and the authorities.

Debatable as it may seem now, this rule will become imperative. As the situation grows grimmer, more and more people and organization will devise ever more devious ways to steal the resources they want from those that can be conned or exploited.

As we have seen, much of what is called our financial system is nothing more than a cabal of greed that has worked diligently to sanction rules that effectively fleeced workers of their deserved earnings.

Look at any list of what to do during a financial crisis and you will find suggestions as to the preservation of your hard earned capital, should you have any, or a suggestion that you get out of debt. Good ideas, but they do not go far enough or wide enough to give anyone practical guidance and doable tasks.

First, let’s go wide. This rule includes all powerful or legally protected organizations that promise more than they know they can ever deliver. Here are examples that deserve skeptical analysis: unsecured debt of all kinds, especially credit cards with numerous fees, charges, penalties and usury interest rates; work at home scams; costly education with no job certainty; fortune tellers and spiritualists of all varieties; full commission sales positions with no base salary; internet scams; credit counseling; insurance; job counselors, resume services and business consultants; barter brokers; pyramid schemes and other versions of musical chairs; speed, DWI and other police traps to snare high fines and surcharges; et cetera.

If you haven’t already noticed, the police are out in force and quick to pull the ticket book trigger. Here in New Jersey, though the civil and criminal courts were subject to cost-cutting furlough days, no such thing happened in the money making municipal courts. Basically, now is not the time to get caught being late with payments or cheating on taxes, nor the moment to get on any bureaucrat’s building code violations clipboard. As the tax & budget shortfalls grow, expect to be hunted down for the most insignificant violation of any law, code or tax regulation.

The authorities will continue to work diligently to create money-raising traps disguised as public service. Be careful out there! That you’ve done nothing wrong, nor hurt anyone, may not matter. If caught in any such snare, don’t exacerbate the situation, minimize the damage.

Keep you relations with the government limited to only what it can do for you and beware that even these “community chest” transactions may include trade-offs, expressed, implied or otherwise that may work against you.

Going as far as possible, if you lose you job or you’ve been purchasing necessities on your credit cards, or you can’t afford the medicine or medical care you need or you’re about to lose you home or car, definitely consider escaping the entanglement and life sucking burden of debt. Are you feeling guilty about the option of filing for protection from your creditors? Consider this, you didn’t’t make the rules, but you have to live by them. Bankruptcy is in the rule book, use any and all rules to your advantage without any qualms.

Stick together to defend each others right to food and shelter.

All of the accounts of the Great Depression remind us of how important organizing will be to survival in the Second Depression.

Face facts, it’s good to be member of any club that supports you in living a decent life.

I am no fan of organized religion, and I do not advocate its proliferation, but I must recognize its one aspect of value to the individual participant: community. Remember, you don’t have to believe in Santa to have friends. Any group will do, especially family. Have a pact to house each other if worst comes to worst.

In Florida, Max Rameau is housing the homeless in foreclosed property. He considers his work both civil disobedience and the morally proper response to human necessity. In desperate times, we will all do what we must. We must all protect the most basic human right to food and shelter for each other.

Do what they did during the Great Depression, support your neighbor and don’t let them be evicted. Homelessness is a nightmare that can bring the strongest of us to our knees. The right response is not to let it happen to our friends, family and neighbors.

Act locally to secure food resources to your geographic community, both near and wide. Industrial agriculture, the menace that brought you cheap, unhealthy and non-nutritious food, will starve you when you cannot pay the price. Recognize that hunger is a political/financial issue; it has nothing to do with a lack of food in the world. This will not change during the Second Depression.

During the Great Depression, there was abundant food, much of it warehoused and going to waste as scare jobs meant scare money and starving people. Monsanto, ConAgra,
Nestle and ADM are not going to feed you if you can’t pay; neither are McDonalds, Burger King, Fridays, Chili’s or the rest of the chain palletized food venues.

Support your local farms and fisheries as much as possible. Not only is that where your food will be grown, it’s where the local jobs will take root. Farmer’s markets, chef-owned and independent restaurants, the locally owned quality supermarket may be a little more expensive, but chances are they offer real value and will be there to underpin the your local community when times get tough.

Make yourself useful.

You can start right now. Play “what if” with yourself and do a little mental planning. What if, I can’t afford the rent? Make the call to friends and family so you will know where you can go and for how long. Figure out your finances now. Do what makes sense now in light of what is probably going to happen in the future.

If you have a job, keep it. If you hate your job, know the risks before you make a move. If you have savings, secure it. If you have debt, do what must be done to get rid of it. Sooner is better than too late.

If the worst happens and you’re out of work this is the rule to heed. Figure out what you can do. They’ll be plenty to do to help others and help you and yours.

As with food, jobs are going to become an important local resource. Local business are not going to move, but the may fail, without your support during the Second Depression. Consider local options for everything you buy now. Tech support and computer repair: the local geek shop or a Dell extended warranty? Banking: Citibank or the local credit union that will still FDIC secures your deposits? Customer service and support: deal with the person in Bangalore or request for a representative in the United States? It goes on and on: The local organic farm or Perdue? Quality clothes made in the USA or Wal-Mart’s Chinese imports? The big box home center or the local hardware store that is not just luring you in to sell you patio furniture? We’ve made too many poor choices in all these respects over the last three decades. Let’s think local and long term starting now.

Fix it. Paint it. Repair it. Weed it by hand instead of buying Round-up. Collect rain water for your garden. Basically, when your money is in short supply and your time is long, use your time and don’t spend the money.

Voting early and often may be out of the question, but if you got the time why not make yourself useful and give your elected representatives an earful. Now is the time to make your voice heard as our timid politicians tip-toe around and hope for the best.

In conclusion:

Apply these rules starting now to your particular situation, needs and environs. We can get through this if we start thinking and acting more deliberately and cut out those institutions that only want our money and have never cared a whit about us.

JWR Adds: Before you send me a Nastygram about Mr. Valenza’s article, please re-read my introductory note, above.

Letter Re: GPS for Day-to-Day Use and Survival

Hi Jim,

I enjoyed that excellent GPS article [by Mike S., “GPS for Day-to-Day Use and Survival”.] It squares well with my personal experience.

GPS on-board mapping has many errors. Seems worse in the hinterlands. Also pretty bad where new construction is concerned. I was amused while driving in MA that for about a half mile my GPS unit thought I was driving down railroad tracks.

While snowshoeing with friends, my buddy had to demonstrate the GPS on his iPhone. All it showed was a dot in the middle of a blank screen. We were beyond the reach of cell phone towers and his phone could not access a map. We had a good laugh about it, but it’s a good thing we knew our way through other means.

Many people who totally rely on a GPS for driving seem to lose their innate sense of direction. I asked a cousin for directions to a place and he said. “Huh . . . I’ve been there a hundred times but just follow the GPS directions. I really couldn’t find my way there without it.”

I do enjoy having GPS in my car. It came in handy when my speedometer cable broke and I could get my mph off of the unit.

Just be aware of its limits and don’t forget your other navigation skills. – Raymond

Influenza Pandemic Update:

LJ in England sent us this: Swine flu deaths in Britain soar to 29 as 12 die in four days

Andrew in England sent this from Yahoo UK: Pandemic threat ‘worse than terror’

From Cheryl: Great Pandemic Flu of 2009 is Coming and No One Can Stop It! Cheryl’s comment: “This is a 2006 novel, Another Place to Die by Sam North, called a blueprint for survival tips for the coming pandemic. Worth checking out. It might deserve a place next to Patriots.”

SR recommended this: Fight for swine flu vaccine could get ugly

Economics and Investing:

Reader IJS flagged this: Ron Paul: Obama Will ‘Destroy the Dollar’

Jim Sinclair (of JS Mineset) mentioned this chart posted at Contrary Investor, showing levels of derivatives exposure. Jim Sinclair raises and interesting question: Where does Goldman Sachs actually have the majority of their derivatives plays? And this chart is also illuminating. In the same piece, Sinclair included a link to this: Mobius Says Derivatives, Stimulus to Spark New Crisis. I have been warning folks for years that the derivatives market is like a ticking time bomb! A full-scale derivatives implosion could make the current economic crisis seem trivial, by comparison!

Buckle up! FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair is predicting that the bank failure rate will increase tenfold. (A hat tip to IJS for the link.)

Greg C. spotted this: California tax officials: Legal pot would rake in $1.4 Billion. Greg’s comment: “Well they ended prohibition during the depression so they could collect a new source of tax revenue. I guess we should’t be surprised by this new development.”

The latest over at the Dr. Housing Bubble blog: Foreclosure Nation: Highest Foreclosure Quarter in History.

No Great Surprise Department: Foreign demand for US financial assets down in May. [JWR Adds: “First prize for our contestants is a suitcase full of US Treasury Bonds. Second prize is two suitcases full of US Treasury Bonds.”]

Items from The Economatrix:

Rising Unemployment Accelerates Foreclosures Crisis

CIT Group, Inc. Won’t Get Bailout, Raising Bankruptcy Prospect Shares tumbled 70% Thursday. “It is unclear how a bankruptcy filing by a company that lends to thousands of small and mid-size businesses would affect shaky financial markets hobbled by an economy in recession and bleeding hundreds of thousands of jobs a month. Small businesses are seen as keys to economic recovery.”

Minimum Thought (The Mogambo Guru)

Map: Broad Unemployment Across the Country

Stocks Make Push at End to Keep Rally Alive Is this more manipulation?

World Bank Warns of Deflation Spiral

House Bill to Hit Millionaires with 5.4% Surtax More BHO “share the wealth” philosophy, in action.

Republicans Criticize Agency for Consumers “Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee called the proposal “an example of this administration being Big Brother” and “a tremendous overreach” that would limit what companies could sell and consumers could buy.”

CalPers Sues Rating Agency Over Losses “Calpers, the biggest U.S. public pension fund, has sued the three largest credit rating agencies for giving perfect grades to securities that later suffered huge subprime mortgage losses. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System said in a lawsuit filed last week in California Superior Court in San Francisco that it might lose more than $1 billion from structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, that received top grades from Moody’s Investors Service Inc, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Inc.”

Odds ‘n Sods:

Some unexpected fallout from the Kahre American Eagles legal tender case: U.S. Attorney Wants Newspaper to Name Names. (Thanks to Chad in Missouri for the link.)

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F.G. mentioned this guaranteed-to-choke-you-up commercial from Ford.

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Reader KAF brought this piece in IBD to my attention: It’s Not An Option; Congress: It didn’t take long to run into an “uh-oh” moment when reading the House’s “health care for all Americans” bill. Right there on Page 16 is a provision making individual private medical insurance illegal. Meanwhile we read: Congressional Budget Director Warns Health Care Bills Will Raise Costs

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Greg C. spotted an article describing the threat spiral escalations in South Africa: ATMs to Dispense Pepper Spray to Robbers