Here is an interesting article, hope you like it about our Sovereignty
We Know Where You Are, Where You've Been, and Where You're Going
First, it was radar guns. Next came red light cameras, which took a photo both of your face and your license plate numbers. And now, surveillance vendors are promoting an American "homeland security" system that would track you, wherever you drive.
If you think this technology is a pipe dream, think again. It exists now, and will soon arrive in the United States.
You can thank the United Kingdom for pioneering this system. When fully implemented next year, the U.K.'s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system will track nearly 500,000 vehicles daily through police cameras and CCTV systems. As you drive between major cities and (especially) into a major metropolitan area, your license plate will be scanned and your identity matched against various U.K. databases.
Should you be driving a "vehicle of interest," it will be easy for police to detain and possibly arrest you. And since the results will be archived for five years, investigators can subsequently trawl the database of billions of vehicle journeys for whatever purposes are deemed necessary.
Such a system already exists in London, where it was installed to reduce traffic congestion. Now, proponents justify it as a measure to fight terrorism, child pornography, and narcotics trafficking.
In the United States, leading photo enforcement providers are promoting a similar program as a way for police to solve missing persons cases and reclaim stolen cars. But behind the scenes, they're advocating a much more ambitious network with capabilities that would equal or even exceed those being developed in the United Kingdom.
The potential for abuse is obvious. And you don't need to look far to find it. In Canada, a police sergeant in Edmonton, Alberta decided to track the whereabouts of a journalist who criticized the city's photo radar operation.
Police followed the critic to a local bar, hoping to arrest him for driving under the influence of alcohol. Unfortunately for police, the journalist took a taxi home. Shortly thereafter, the plan became public knowledge after someone inside the police department leaked tapes of radio traffic to the press.
What politician might be silenced after the license numbers of both he and an alleged mistress are found at the same hotel? What civil libertarian will feel compelled to stay at home rather than risk harassment by police if he drives his vehicle to a political rally? The prospects for continued abuses are real, and growing rapidly.
One thing's for sure. Big Brother has literally taken to the roads. If you want transportation privacy in this brave new world, buy a bicycle - or a good pair of hiking boots.
MARK NESTMANN, Privacy Expert & President of The Nestmann Group http://www.nestmann.com/
Darpa Wants to See Inside Your House (for the short article you can read it at)
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/darpa-see-throu.html
This is part two of a three part series on Surviving in the city
THE FAILURE OF THE POWER GRID
Nothing is as suddenly obvious nor has such a gigantic psychological
impact as the failure of the power grid. When the electricity stops, almost
everybody knows it at the same instant (unless it happens at night).
Naturally, during the first few hours of the power failure, if it occurs,
people will assume it's a temporary situation. Maybe a tree fell on some
power lines, or perhaps a transformer blew up somewhere nearby. They'll sit
tight and wait for the power to come back on.
What if it doesn't? Then the city faces a severe problem. Without power,
obviously, everything shuts down. Within hours, the looting begins in the
more crime-ridden cities (we saw this in New York a few decades ago.). The
longer the power stays off, the worse the social disorder.
The loss of power will bring the entire city to a halt. While vehicles may
get around for a few more days (using whatever fuel they have left),
businesses obviously won't be operating. Houses that depend on electricity
for heat will quickly reach Winter temperatures, freezing many occupants to
death. While those that depend on electricity for Air Conditioning will just
as quickly reach Summer temperatures, resulting in death from heat stroke.
Hospitals and police stations may have generators on hand, with a few days
worth of fuel, but in short order, that will be depleted, too.
But the water treatment plant will almost certainly be off-line without
power, causing all the events mentioned in the water section, above. Let's
face it, the power is the worst thing to be without in the city. If you have
power, you can survive a food shortage, perhaps even a short water shortage.
But without power, all bets are off. If you have a "bug-out" vehicle stocked
and ready to go (see below), this might be the time to bail.
SOLUTIONS IN THE CITY
Okay, so you're stuck in the city. You've made the decision to stay. You'
ve read the problems above, you believe they make sense, and you're
intelligently frightened. What now? You really have two strategies. You can:
* Stay and defend your house
* Bug out (leave the city and head for the hills)
Important! This is not an either/or situation. You can begin by staying in
your house and assessing the situation. You'll want to have a "bug-out"
vehicle stocked and ready, just in case, if you can afford one, but you may
never actually choose to bug out. You'll have to be the ultimate judge of
this. Just remember that when you bug out, you face major risks and
disadvantages. Among these:
1. You're severely limited in how much you can carry -
2. You have limited range due to fuel -
3. You expose yourself to social chaos, roadblocks, random violence,
etc. -
4. Your house will certainly be looted while you're gone -
5. You run the risk of mechanical breakdowns of your vehicle -
6. You must have a place to go that you know is in better shape than where
you currently are.
In general, unless you have a specific, known safe place as your final
destination, I don't advise people to bug out. Just "heading for the hills"
is a very poor plan. You might not make it. But heading for Grandma's house
or some known, safe place could be a very good plan indeed, depending on
whether Grandma is ready, willing and able to accept you!
For these reasons (and more), staying and defending your house is
sometimes the only reasonable course of action, even if it seems dangerous.
For the most part, looters and people looking for food are going to have
plenty of easy victims, so if you show a little willingness to use force to
defend your property, you'll likely send people on to the next house.
That is, until the next house is already empty and you appear to be the
last house on the block with any food and water left. If you're in a bad
enough area, your neighbors may "gang up" on you and demand your supplies or
your life. This is truly a worst-case scenario, and unless you literally
have a house full of battle rifles and people trained to use them (and the
willingness to shoot your neighbors), you're sunk. This is why the best
situation by far is to keep your neighbors informed and help them get
prepared. Then you (both your member and non-member neighbors) can act as a
group, defending your neighborhood and sharing the supplies you have with
anyone willing to help defend you.
When you have this kind of situation going, your neighbors realize you are
their lifeline. You supply them with food and water, and they will help
support you because they are, in effect, supporting their own lives. The
best situation is when your neighbors and other ward members have their own
food and water supplies. That way, they aren't depleting yours, and they
have a strong motivation for getting together with you defend your
neighborhood. (More on this below.)
STORING (AND HIDING) YOUR FOOD
Storing food is just as important in the city as in the country, but
hiding it is far more important. That's because in the worst areas,
marauders will be going from house to house, demanding your food or your
life. If you're dumb enough to put everything you own in the obvious places,
you might as well not buy it in the first place. They will find it. To count
on having any amount of food left over after the marauders break in, you'll
need to hide your food.
One alternative is to plan on defending your home with force. If you have
enough gun-wise people in the house, and enough firearms and ammo, you can
probably pull this off. But most of us aren't nearly as experience with
firearms as the gang members. A better alternative might be to plan on
bringing you supplies to your ward/stake building where all of the Saints
can both pool and defend their resources. This of course will depend greatly
on your local Bishop and Stake President. (If you are a Mormon)
Back to hiding: the best way to hide your food is to bury it. You'll need
airtight containers, long-term food that won't rot and you'll need to plan
ahead. Bury your food at night so nobody will notice, and make sure you don'
t leave the map on the refrigerator door! (Better to memorize it!) Try to
get the ground to look normal after you're all finished. You'll want to bury
your food as early as possible because it gives the grass time to regroup
over the spot. If you're in an area that snows, you'll have a great
concealment blanket! Most food marauders won't go to the trouble to dig up
food, especially if you insist you don't have any.
Best plan: Have some smaller amount of food stashed around the house,
letting them find something. Better to give them something and send them on
their way. The art of hiding your food is an ancient one. You've got to get
creative. Use the walls, the floors, and the structure of the house.
If hiding your food is simply not an available alternative, then try not
to advertise it. Keep it put away in your house or garage in as discreet a
manner as possible. Don't make a point of telling people that you have a
years supply (or more). Word gets around fast that Bro. Jones has a ton of
food in his garage. Boxes of food fit nicely under beds, behind furniture,
in the attic, etc.. Be Creative!!
To sum up the food storage, you really have three strategies here:
* Store it all in your house and plan on defending it by force.
* Bury it in your yard in case you get overrun by looters.
* Store part of it in your house, and hide the bulk of it.
* Relocate all of it as soon as you recognize a major disaster is in
progress
One of the best ways to store food for burying, although it will only last
2-3 years in high-humidity areas, is to purchase 55-gallon good-grade steel
drums. You can get them from: Memphis Drum Service, 3299 Tulane, Memphis,
Tennessee 38116 (901) 396-6484; (800) 960-3786) The drums are only $16.50,
but shipping them is around $30 each. Once you obtain the drums, dump in
your grains or other food items. If you purchase bags of food from Walton
Feed, this is the perfect way to store it. Don't leave it in the bags unless
you're actively eating it. [Note: Plastic barrels do not rust.]
Then sprinkle some diatomaceous earth into the drum. You'll need about two
cups to treat a 55-gallon drum, and it must be mixed in well. Diatomaceous
earth is made from ground up sea shells, and it kills bugs by getting into
their joints. You can get some from: Perma-Guard, Inc. 115 Rio Bravo S. E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87105 (505) 873-3061
This diatomaceous earth is food grade, and on the bag it says, "Fossil
Shell Flour." Their prices are one pound, $4.90; 2 lb., $8.05; 5 lb., 14.70,
10 lb., $18.00; 50 lb., $24.95. (this info is a few years old)
Once you get these drums filled and sealed, you can then bury them in your
yard. This is actually a HUGE UNDERTAKING and is a LOT more difficult than
it sounds, since you'll need to dig to a depth of around 5 or 6 feet in
order to sufficiently bury these drums. You're likely to attract a lot of
attention unless you do it at night, and you'll definitely be removing a lot
of dirt that you'll need to find some use for. Because the drums are steel,
they will also deteriorate unless you line the outside with plastic (a good
idea) and treat the drums with some kind of protectant or oil. (Don't use
WD-40.) Even Vaseline would work well, although you would definitely need a
lot to coat a 55-gallon drum.
When you're all done, you should have your protected grains in 55-gallon
drums, buried in your yard and protected against the humidity of the
surrounding earth. It's a big effort, but then again, the food inside may
save your life. You'll find it much more efficient to bury several barrels
at once; side by side.
In reality it would be faster and easier to simply build a false wall in
your garage and seal up your food behind the false wall. Sure, you might
loose 2-3 feet of useable space in your garage, but the tradeoff is knowing
everything is safe and sound.
STORING EXTRA WATER
Water can be stored in exactly the same way, although you might want to
bury the barrel before you actually fill it with water. Make sure you treat
your storage water, rotate it or have filters on hand when you get ready to
use it.
If you don't have a yard, or it's not practical to bury your water, you'll
have to store water inside your house. This can get very tricky because
water takes up a lot of space and it's very difficult to conceal. It's best
to get containers made for long-term storage, but in a pinch, you can use
almost any container: soda bottles, milk jugs (although it's very difficult
to rinse the milk out), and even rinsed bleach bottles (in that case, you
won't need to add bleach). But a lot of these containers will deteriorate
quickly, and they may break easily. Also, consider what happens if your
water may be subjected to freezing. Will your containers survive? Be sure to
leave enough air space to handle the expansion.
In order to prepare yourself for the water shortage, assuming you're going
to stay in the city, stock at least six months of water at a minimum two
gallons a day per person. That's nearly 400 gallons of water if you have two
people. (In my personal practice it is more like 3 gallons a day per adult)
Of course, even with the best in-house preparations, you may find yourself
depleted of water supplies. In this situation, one of your best defenses is
to have a really good water filter (like the Katadyn filter) that can remove
parasites and bacteria from the water. You can also treat your water in
other ways (iodine, distillation, silver solution, bleach, etc.). Armed with
these items, you can safely use stream or river water (or even pond water)
for drinking.
WATER WELLS
By far, the best solution for obtaining long-term water supplies is to
drill a well. Buy the best-quality hand-pump available (cast-iron pumps
available from Lehman's) and a good cylinder. They will last a lifetime if
installed properly. With this setup, you'll have a near-unlimited supply of
water.
The total cost of doing this, depending on where you live, ranges from
about $4000 - $6000. Is it worth it? If you've got the money, I think so.
However, many cities simply don't allow the drilling of wells, so you may
not be able to get one drilled even if you want to.
The deeper your well, the more expensive it gets. Most well drilling
companies charge by the foot. When water is deeper, you also need a bigger
pump and a more powerful cylinder, so the costs tend to really grow the
deeper you go. If you can find water at 20', you're very lucky and it might
not cost you even $2000. If you have to go down to 200', it might cost you
$7500, and you're at the depth limit of hand-powered pumps anyway.
HOLLY DEYO NOTE: As point of reference, the general cost of well digging
in Colorado as of March 2007, runs $20/foot. This can be a very expensive
venture if water is located deeply or worse yet, the drill hole comes up
dry. Additionally, in Colorado, you may not drill a well on your property
unless you own at least a 35-acre plot or, there is no public water supply
available. Both the cost and conditions when you may be allowed to drill can
vary throughout the U.S. (and abroad), so be sure to check before counting
on being able to do so.
DEFENDING YOUR LIFE AND PROPERTY
Let's talk about force. No doubt, there are plenty of nice people in this
country, and I think that in small towns and rural areas, people are going
to find ways to cooperate and get along. I also think, however, that some
cities will suffer complete social breakdown and violence will rule. If you
happen to be stuck in one of these cities, you're going to need to use force
to defend your house. The section that follows discusses what I consider to
be extreme responses to violence in the most dire situations. Hopefully, you
won't find yourself in these circumstances, but if you do, the information
below may be valuable.
Important: Do not use your lights at night. If you are stocking
propane-powered lanterns, solar-powered flashlights, or other unusual
supplies, using them at night will announce to everyone within line of sight
that you have more than the "usual" supplies. Expect them to come knocking
in your door. At most, let a fire burn in the fireplace, but in general,
avoid drawing attention to your house.
Defending your house is a crucial element on your stay-in-the-city plan.
Make your house your fortress, and hold drills to help other family members
practice some of the more common activities such as hiding, defending,
evacuating, etc. Some useful items for home defense include:
* A guard dog
* Pepper spray
* Firearms
* Smoke bombs (military-grade)
* Trip wires
Let's go over these: The guard dog is certainly a welcome addition to any
family trying to defend their house. Although he probably eats a lot of
food, the investment is worth if. Dogs also tend to sleep light, so let them
sleep right next to the food storage areas, and make sure you sleep within
earshot. If the dog barks, don't consider it an annoyance, consider it an
INTRUSION.
Pepper spray is a great alternative to the firearm. It will incapacitate
people and certainly give them a painful experience to remember. On the
downside (potentially), it might just remind them that next time they come
back for food, they better kill you first. So understand the limitations of
pepper spray. (Bean bag rounds and rubber bullets are also)
Firearms are useful for obvious reasons. In the worst-case scenario, when
looting is rampant, you may have to actually shoot someone to protect
yourself or your family. If you're squeamish about pulling the trigger under
these circumstances, don't plan to stay in the city. Use the "bug out" plan
instead.
Smoke bombs can be useful for covering a planned escape from your house.
You can purchase high-volume smoke bombs that will quickly fill up any house
with an unbreathable cloud of military-grade white smoke.
Trip wires are great perimeter defenses. You can buy them from Cheaper
Than Dirt (they run a few hundred dollars). They will give you early warning
if someone is approaching. You can connect the tripwires to flares, shotgun
shells, light sticks or other warning devices. This way, you can have an
audible or visible alert, your choice.
In addition to these devices, you can make significant fortification-style
improvements to your home. While none of these are very affordable, they
certainly help defend your home:
* Replace glass windows with non-breakable Plexiglas
* Add steel bars to the windows
* Replace all outside door locks with heavy-duty deadbolts
* Replace all outside doors with steel doors, preferably without windows
* Remove bushes and other shrubs where people might hide (or replace them with thorny type bushes)
* Black out the windows entirely to avoid light escaping at night (similar
to what residents of London did during the WWII bombing raids)
* Build secret hiding places for food, coins, or even people
* Create escape hatches or passageways
* Rig pepper-spray booby traps
These aren't as absurd as they might at first sound. Many people living in
rough cities already have steel bars covering their windows, and removing
extra bushes and shrubs is a well-known tactic for making your home a safer
place.
LIGHT
To light your home when there's no electricity, try the following:
* Use LED flashlights and rechargeable solar-charged batteries. You can
buy all these items from the Real Goods catalog
* Use propane-powered lanterns. You can find these in the camping section
of your local Wal-Mart. Be sure to purchase extra mantles and store lots of
propane.
* Purchase quality oil lamps from Lehman's and stock up on oil. You can
also purchase cheap kerosene lamps from the Sportsman's Guide or Wal-Mart,
then simply purchase and store extra kerosene.
* Buy extra candles.
* Purchase lots of olive oil. Not only can you cook with it (and besides,
it's a lot healthier than corn or vegetable oil), olive oil also burns as a
clean candle fuel. You can float a wick in a jar half-full of olive oil and
light the wick. Viola, a home-made candle. Olive oil is a fantastic item for
your storage anyway because even if you purchase all the grains in the
world, you'll still need cooking oil, and you obviously can't buy powdered
cooking oil. Well-stored olive oil can last for thousands of years.
STAYING WARM
Did you know that people won't steal giant logs? Although they may easily
steal wood you've already chopped, most people won't have any way of
stealing logs. They're too heavy, and the vehicles won't have any gas left.
For this reason, your best bet in regards to stocking fuel for your house is
to stock up on UNCUT wood logs.
It takes a lot of extra research to find out how to get them (took me a
few weeks of asking around), but you can find a source if you look hard
enough. Or you can usually get a permit to go out and cut your own. The
effort is worth it, because this will give you a ready-to-go source of heat
and fuel that cannot be easily stolen.
The catch, of course, is that you'll need equipment to cut and chop the
wood. A chainsaw is REALLY nice in this way, but it requires fuel.
Fortunately, chain saws don't use much fuel, so if you have a way to store
as little as 50 gallons or so, you've got enough to power your chainsaw for
a few years (at least!). You'll need fuel stabilizers, too, which you can
buy at your local Wal-Mart. (Be sure to buy extra chains for your chainsaw,
too.)
You'll also need splitting hardware. You can buy log splitters or just buy
an axe, a wedge, and a sledgehammer. Better yet, buy all four so you have a
choice of what to use. And remember, wood splits much better when it's
frozen, too, so you might just wait until the cold hits in Winter to start
splitting your wood. Only split a little at a time, because you don't want
to end up with a big pile of nicely-split wood sitting out in your yard. It
will invite theft from people who don't have any. If you already have trees
on your property, you're all set. Cut down about 4-5 cords right now, so
they can start drying out, then chop them as you need them.
A "cord" of wood, by the way, is a volume measurement. It's 8' x 4' x 4',
or 128 cubic feet of wood (stacked). Some people that sell wood will try to
rip you off, so make sure you know what you're buying. If you purchase logs,
it's better to get a price per linear foot, based on the diameter of the
log. For example, you might ask for logs that are an average of 10" in
diameter, and you'll ask how much the charge per linear foot would be.
Something in the range of $1 - $2 would be great.
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