die now or later

DIE NOW OR LATER


I just got done reading “Domestic Enemies” by Matthew Bracken, the second in the militia porn trilogy given to me by a loyal minion first class with oak cluster. I understand that you also aspire to reach this exalted status, but fear not. It isn’t the dollar amount represented by your tribute but the thought behind the gift. Remember, just give according to your income as a percentage. I’m sorry, but I can’t accept pleas of poverty as an excuse. Not when you compare it against my income. If you wish to be removed from the Enemies Of Bison list and put on the Friends Of Bison list, or even better the List Of Those Not To Be Executed After The Collapse ( When Lands Far From The Great Basin Are Pacified ), some sort of payola must be remanded. The book was very enjoyable. Fast paced, keeping your interest, and fun. I can’t say it would be worth $20 as was the first book. The second was actually a better read, but the first is full bore militia action whereas the second isn’t so much. It seems to suffer, oddly, by focusing on the character rather than the bigger picture. I liked it, it sometimes delved into economics. Derivatives are mentioned, and remember this book came out four or five years ago. He was definitely ahead of the curve here. And he gets into the personal problems of hyper inflated pensions which was done quite well. I think I need to read book number three before I recommend the second or not. I’ll let you know soon. I loved the book, it is just a question if it is worth the asking price.

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As I keep reminding you, the immediate future offers you one of two choices. The first is to die now because you didn’t take basic precautions. The second is to die later, because you had to make poor decisions about the kind of provisions you were able to afford. It seems that most people would prefer to die sooner rather than later. Look, they seem to be saying, I am so friggin special that I deserve the very best. Only the very best will do to keep me alive. Anything less than perfect is unacceptable since it won’t keep me alive as long as I deserve to be. Okay, I don’t know about you, but I know for a fact that I’m a lot more special than you are. I know I’m number one. But I also know that the odds are good that we are fast approaching the waterfall in our pretty sparkling cardboard canoe. We are about to go over. The canoe looks good. But it isn’t very solid. A thin supply line of imported oil is all that is keeping us going. And that imported oil supplies our military which occupies those countries which supply us with that oil ( or, the country right next door- you might think the few units in the reserve or National Guard left in the border states are there to haul your ass off the roof of your flash-flooded home but really they are there to insure “our” oil reaches us from Mexico ). Those countries are literally selling the rope we are using to hang them, a rich turnaround on Lenin’s boast against capitalists. Or was that Marx? Anyway, once the oil is gone, it’s gone, and no matter how many nukes we have in our arsenal, the party is over.

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Prepare now, even with the substandard supplies you can afford. It is better than nothing. When I read in the comments section about our poor minion and his iron shavings in the China corn mill, I was deeply disturbed. That sucks, mainly because I bought three of the bastards. I own one Corona and the other three mills are China copies. If they all grind themselves up they are practically useless. I’m not out much money, about sixty bucks since I bought before shipping cost went up, but it isn’t like I can replace them with $200 worth of brand name mills. Yet, even if this turns out to be a common problem, it is still better than nothing. If you need a mill, even a substandard one will do. You can use a magnet to sift through the flour, as our commenter did, and eventually there will be a gap between the parts and the problem ceases. I don’t think this is a good situation, not at all, but the only other option, after the crash, is no mill at all. If you can’t afford a lot of storage food, potentially mild toxins in other food is better than none at all. Remember, we are only talking about potential problems, not guaranteed ones. Potentially, food grade buckets in the paint section of Wal-Mart COULD leach some toxins into the food. You die in twenty years from cancer. Potentially, feed corn grown from frankenfoods COULD cause digestion or other health problems. You could die in ten years from cancer. But those substandard foods in storage will keep you alive, so that you have the opportunity to get cancer. If you hold out for freeze dried or canned foods, you end up with no foods at all. Or, certainly, far from enough food.

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If you only had wheat kernels, and used a crappy corn grinder from China that sprinkled your flour with metal shavings, you face protein deficiency and tearing up your gut if you don’t carefully sift out your wheat. If you save up worthless paper money to buy “real” food and a “quality” grain mill ( costing $500 plus an electric motor powered by $500 in panels and batteries so your pasty white cellulite dimpled ass doesn’t have to work too hard- Christ, I was grinding up flour on a Corona when I was eleven years old, a weeks worth of bread at a time ) you might just end up with neither. The real panic hasn’t even started yet. Wait for real food shortages, then you’ll see true panic and shortages. Prepping for Y2K was easy, with oil being cheap. Not this time.

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If your improvised water filter fails to trap chemicals, that’s bad. But better a filter that keeps you alive today, by filtering out pathogens that kill in 24 hours, than having no filter at all because you were saving up for a better unit. The chemicals will kill you slower. No, you don’t want to die at all. But any level of protection is better than none. Better to have a slow bolt action rifle than no rifle at all because you were saving up for something ten times the cost. Better a bolt action and three hundred rounds, than a semi automatic with not nearly enough ammo or mags. Far better a Russian bolt gun without a ruptured case bleed safety than no gun at all. It does pain me, but you are better off with a Mosin Nagant and a tin of ammo, than waiting to buy the far superior Lee-Enfield. If all you can afford is the Czar rifle, because it and its ammo are half the price, so be it. The lack of the safety is a factor, but better alive today by being armed than dead in five years after a case explodes and fries your face and you die from infection.

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Better alive on a piece of desert with no garden than once having a lush farm you’ve been evicted from after you lost your job and couldn’t pay the mortgage. Better an ugly or fat wife than paying a pretty crack whore to give you syphilis. Okay, that almost doesn’t fit, but it does point out the benefit of function over fashion. Or, better something that works marginally than nothing at all. Or, the 80/20 rule which we’ve covered before. You complain I keep covering the same ground, but you ain’t listening. If you were, I’d have some minion neighbors by now, the first recruits in my cannon fodder army of world domination. Verily, the end in nigh!

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