Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man. True, they nourish some of the elegant arts; but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere; and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue and freedom, would be my choice." – Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 1800. ME 10:173

Note From JWR:

Wow! I just noticed that we’ve logged more than 875,000 unique visits! Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a huge success. It is gratifying seeing the readership continue to grow. I hope that you find what your read here is useful. (Or as my old buddy “Jeff Trasel” says “practical and tactical, high speed, and low drag.”) If you concur, I hope that you will go ahead and get a 10 Cent Challenge subscription. These subscriptions are entirely voluntary, and gratefully accepted.

Letter Re: The James Kim Exposure Death Tragedy: Lessons to Be Learned

Sir:
I live in Curry County [Oregon], and on occasion travel the road over the mountains to Galice. I think that the primary lesson to learn from his tragedy is that you have to know where you are. The SOP for being lost in the woods is to “hug a tree” and wait for rescue. That doesn’t always work around here, and Mr. Kim wasn’t necessarily wrong in trying to walk out for help. Several years ago, in March, a guy was found on that same road, frozen, sitting in his pickup waiting for rescue. He’d been missing since November. Another common piece of advice for people stuck in the woods is to travel downhill, find water, and follow it downstream. That doesn’t work here either. You will end up cold, wet, and trapped at the bottom of a cliff. Around here you have to go uphill until you find a logging spur or an old log deck [also called a log landing or log yard] and then build a big fire. Actually, if Mr. Kim had just stayed on the road, he could have walked to either Galice or Agness in one hard day. You have to know where you are, and adapt accordingly. – R.M.

Two Letters Re: Implications of Directly Confronting Criminals

James
This is a comment about the remarks that Dutch from Wyoming made about the man who moved from Colorado due to gangs. What did Dutch want the guy from Colorado to do? Start exterminating them? We all fantasize about doing away with the bad guys, but how do you do it and still stay out of jail or get the lethal injection? I retired from law enforcement from California and moved to Montana for some of the same reasons the man from Colorado did. I arrested hundreds, maybe thousands (never kept count) of gang members during my career. An army of lawyers put most them back on the street. Many of those lawyers were/are paid with our tax dollars (Public defenders.) I’ve also been in shootouts with gang members, including during the 1992 riots. I was sued for those shootings and the city had to pay a lot of money (tax payer money) to gang member families. Remember, the gangs shot at us, we return fire, we win the gun fight, but loose in civil court. Some of my colleagues, went to federal jail for fighting the good fight against gang members. The department abandoned them on the battlefield, and the Feds put them in jail for civil rights violations. I read and see the news everyday where officers are fighting gang members, and God help them if a “use of force” is video taped at the time of the arrest. Even supposedly conservative Fox News doesn’t get it. As soon as they see an arrest where the officers are using force, their comments are usually biased and negative against the officer(s). So, what do we do? Shoot, Shovel and Shut up? We are not there yet, but perhaps the day that that happens is not too far off. Or maybe [as Shakespeare suggested] “The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers”. – John in Montana

Sir:
Most people who read his [Dutch from Wyoming’s] comments in your blog would be happy to make their stand in their current place of residence. It is not the bad guys we fear, rather the sheeple and law enforcement who punish individuals for the crime of self defense. – D.A.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Odds ‘n Sods:

Joe from Tennessee mentioned this scary piece: Imminent US Dollar Collapse? Meanwhile we read, Oil Producers Shun the US Dollar. Gee, this starting to sound a lot like the opening chapter of my novel “Patriots.” If this does occur, the full implications of a dollar collapse will be far-reaching. Be prepared!

   o o o

Hawaiian K sent this: U.S. Criminal Probe Rattles $2 Trillion Municipal Bond Market. That is all we need–a municipal bond collapse, right at the same time as a dollar collapse. Do foreign investors need any more inducement to get out of the US dollar and US investments?

  o o o

Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lets the “nuclear ambiguity” mask slip

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

King of Swamp Castle [gesturing toward the window]: One day, lad, all this will be yours.
Prince Herbert: Wot? The curtains?
King of Swamp Castle: No, not the curtains, lad! All that you can see stretched out over the valleys and the hills! That’ll be your kingdom, lad.
When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that’s what you’re going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England. – Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975

Note from The Memsahib:

I got a great view of a bull moose on Saturday. It crossed the highway about 300 yards ahead of our Explorer and was still near the road standing under some cedars when I got near. Since there was no one in either direction on the lightly-traveled highway, I was able to actually stop and watch the bull for several minutes. Visiting moose–especially bulls–are not an everyday occurrence here at the Rawles Ranch, so seeing one is always a thrill for us.

Two Letters Re: Opinion on The Retreat Potential of New Hampshire?

Hi, Jim:
I appreciated your comments regarding New Hampshire as a potential retreat site in today’s SurvivalBlog item. While I live in Idaho and am mostly pleased with the state, I did have occasion to visit Vermont six months ago. I was highly impressed with several gun stores I visited, and from information I learned from the stores’ staff members. In actuality, I was very surprised that their gun laws were less restrictive than Idaho’s. Thanks for the blog and your writings. Cheers! – TLP

JWR Replies: The gun laws in Vermont are indeed favorable (most notably the legality of concealed carry without a permit), but the taxes? No thanks! New Hampshire has much lower taxes. Here is a snippet from my recently-released book, Rawles on Retreat and Relocation:

Total Tax Burden
It can be useful to look at the Total Tax Burden of a state. This includes: property taxes, income taxes, and sales taxes combined: Taxes as a percentage of income (as of 2002):
The Best:
Alaska 6.3%
New Hampshire 7.6%
Tennessee 8.3%
Colorado 8.4%
South Dakota 8.9%

The Worst:
Maine 13.6%
New York 12.9%
Wisconsin 11.9%
Vermont 11.7%
Hawaii 11.6%
Note: Includes state and local taxes including property and sales tax, excise tax and some business taxes. You may pay even more if your income is considerably higher than average, or if you live in an area of the state with high property taxes.

 

James:
As a lifelong Wyoming resident, I never could quite figure out what the “Free Staters” were all about. From what I gathered, they wanted to move en masse to some particular state and “set things right”. I understand that Wyoming is/was one of the target states.

Wyoming is no paradise. We have a harsh climate, short growing season, high energy prices, sales tax, over-priced real estate and a huge governmental bureaucracy. On top of all that, about the only people here who welcome newcomers are the bankers and real estate agents.

I live a few miles out in the sticks from the nearest town. That town has a population of around 200. We have no mail delivery, so we all make a daily pilgrimage to the post office. It’s the social event of the day. The other morning, I was at the post office, waiting my turn at the window. The fellow ahead of me is telling the postmaster why he moved here from some place in Colorado. “Yeah… the gangs took over the town. Got to be where my wife couldn’t go shopping by herself.”

Jim (the postmaster) simply asked: “Well, what did you do about it?”

The guy said nothing. But in reality, what had the guy done? He’d let himself be run out of town by some hoodlum, hoping that he’d be able to find security at someone else’s table.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have much trust in a fella who moves in next door, crowing about rights and liberty after he’s just proved that he values neither enough to stand his ground. – Dutch in Wyoming

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader “Rmplstlskn” mentioned a tale of woe, posted over at AR15.com: The “Fongman” (not to be confused with the character in my novel “Patriots” with same moniker) had most of his survival gear stolen from his unoccupied retreat. As I’ve mentioned in SurvivalBlog several times before: The best approach is to live at your intended retreat year-round, or have someone that you really trust live there year-round. If you are forced by circumstances to leave your gear unattended, the two best options are: 1.) Underground caches in well-drained soil, or 2.) Renting a commercial storage space that is within 20 miles of your retreat. Both have their drawbacks, but at least they are are superior to gambling with simply leaving valuables in an un-observed trailer or CONEX in a rural locale. Even specially shrouded padlocks on CONEXes are no match for a thief with time on his hands and a cutting torch or power tools. If a container is not within line of sight of an occupied habitation,a thief will eventually gain entry. I’ve heard the same sad story, over and over. Some might suggest keeping all your gear at home, and transporting all of it to your retreat after the balloon goes up. But that is problematic. If things get Schumeresque, odds are that you will only have one trip Outta Dodge. That would leave you in the unenviable position of having to “pick and choose” and inevitably leaving most of your precious logistics behind. Psychologically, that would be just as devastating, if not worse, than being burglarized.

   o o o

Gulf summit opens with a warning from Saudi King Abdullah: “Our Arab region is besieged by a number of dangers, as if it was a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode,”

   o o o

From the London Telegraph: UN downgrades man’s impact on the climate.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"In truth, a state that deprives its law-abiding citizens of the means to effectively defend themselves is not civilized but barbarous…revealing its totalitarian nature by its tacit admission that the disorganized, random havoc created by criminals is far less a threat than are men and women who believe themselves free and independent, and act accordingly." – Jeffrey Snyder, A Nation of Cowards

Letter Re: The James Kim Exposure Death Tragedy: Lessons to Be Learned

Mr. Rawles:
I followed the search and rescue story [the tragic death of James Kim–stranded on a remote Oregon logging road] in the news recently and was struck with very emotional feelings about their ordeal. Apparently he and his family did the right things, but in the end bad luck and a lack of proper survival gear was disastrous. Putting myself into his shoes I feel that I too would have definitely tried to hike for help after a week of hunkering down and waiting for rescue.
See the series of Google Earth images showing his path while trying to hike out. The heartbreaking fact is that he started in the wrong direction if trying to reach the nearest shelter/help. These also show the long distance and elevation changes he surmounted in attempting to hike to help.

Lessons to be learned from this tragedy:
1. Never travel without some sort of emergency gear in your vehicle. A good Bug-Out Bag with extra items for warmth and additional food might have made the difference for these guys, in terms of prolonging their ability to stay put and wait out for rescue. (Particularly as since they were on a road that would get searched eventually).
2. Friends from back east taught me the old saying, “Dress to survive, not to arrive”. Meaning that when venturing out in an area with inclement weather make sure you are equipped with clothing that would enable you to walk home if you had to. Better, warmer and or waterproofing layers could have made the difference for James Kim in his hike out.
3. A good map is worth its weight in gold. His wife has now said that after reviewing the tourist map they had he left to attempt to hike to Galice, a town they thought was four miles away. In fact it was much further than that, and ironically had they continued forward on the road they had gotten stuck within another mile they would have found a cabin to take shelter in.
A good map and GPS receiver is even better, especially in an unfamiliar wilderness area.
4. When in doubt, turn back. The Kim’s became stranded after trying to find a cut off road, and made a wrong turn at a fork that led them onto a secluded and seldom used logging road just as a snow storm hit. If it’s getting dark or weather is turning don’t be afraid admitting a mistake and re-tracing your steps back to where you know you are on the right path. Better very late than never.

JWR Replies: Echoing S.H.’s comments, an article titled “Lessons Learned from the Kim Family” was posted over at Doug Ritter’s Equipped to Survive Blog

Letter Re: Some Good Things Prompted By SurvivalBlog

Jim,
The following are some things SurvivalBlog.com has prompted me to do since I began reading it:
I’ve had no debt for 20 years, but my meager holdings are now about 1/3 precious metals. Is lead considered a precious metal? 🙂
My freezer is full of elk, whitetail deer, and caribou. I added to my long-term foods during your Safecastle special, but I’m now reviewing the viability of my existing stocks. Like the realtor’s mantra of “location, location, location”, a survivalist’s creed should be “Rotate, rotate, rotate. “
A 10 KW Generac generator is ready to be wired to my primary residence.
My primary heat source is now a shelled corn burner
My wife and I just finished a first aid course refresher and bought a couple of family-sized first aid kits from the American Red Cross.
I upgraded my firearms battery to include a third .308 Winchester rifle–a DPMS Panther LR-308 [AR-10.] An accurate load for the Sierra 168-grain HPBT has been found and loading on the Dillon press commences soon.
During this year’s whitetail deer hunt, our group adhered to the hunting laws but still kept in contact with our MURS Radios.
And thanks to your blog, I’m practicing preparedness more. I’ve never learned how to take a deer apart other than simple de-boning. So with instructions at the ready, the wife and I will skin this year’s buck and carve the meat into steaks, roasts, stew meat and burger. But with a full freezer, I’ll be practicing charity by giving it to my friend Mike, a less fortunate carnivore.
Now it’s time to renew the 10 Cent Challenge subscription. There is much more to do and learn. Merry Christmas to you and yours, – Redmist

Odds ‘n Sods:

Nearly every day after their home schooling, the Rawles kids have asked to go snow sledding. We are fortunate to have a great sledding hill in the national forest land that adjoins the Rawles Ranch. It is just a five minute walk from the house, The kids demonstrated their inventiveness by constructing a packed snow jumping ramp at the base of one of their longer sled runs. Our #3 Son regularly achieves “air”, clearing the surface for about 10 feet before landing in deep powder. Quite exhilarating. Speaking of inventiveness, at the dinner table last night I jokingly suggested the new sport of “sled-athalon”–shooting targets with a stainless M1911 .45 ACP whilst traveling downhill on the back of toboggan. (Sort of reminiscent of “Skeet Surfin'” in the opening scenes of the movie Top Secret.) But, alas, The Memsahib nixed that idea, post haste. That was probably for the best, but whatever happened to her sense of adventure?

  o o o

OSOM sent us this link about crime in South Africa: Home Sweet Fortress.

  o o o

Senator James Inhofe announces release of A Skeptic’s Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism.

 

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Whenever Destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to it’s owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of a arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day it bounces, marked: ‘Account overdrawn’." – Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged, 1957

Note From JWR:

When you write your obligatory Christmas card insert letter this year, please mention that you’ve been reading SurvivalBlog. And if you send an electronic version, it would be greatly appreciated if you’d include a SurvivalBlog link logo or link text. Please spread the word about SurvivalBlog. Thanks!