Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training
I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood
>>>lather on sunblock and consciously avoid sunlight. All of these things lower vitamin D blood levels<<<
Sunscreen blocks Vitamin D production - so we slop it on and lose the benefits...
To Defy Hate All You Need is Love
April 27, 2009
by Jeffrey Imm
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
http://www.realcourage.org/2009/04/all_you_need_is_love/
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/137.html
In the struggle for human freedom, people will never care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
On Tuesday April 21, as I sat in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC listening to the names being read of those murdered in the Holocaust - those whose lives were taken just because of who they were, I saw how much the readers truly cared. The reading of the names of the Holocaust victims was done by diverse people each with a list. The readers were young and old, Caucasian and black, Asian and other ethnic backgrounds, women and men. But they had one thing in common - they all cared. The Holocaust was over 60 years ago, certainly some may have still known some victims, but many did not. And still they cared - they stopped their day to remember. Some cried. One young Asian girl could barely make it through the list of names through her tears.
We don’t cry enough, and that is so sad for the human race. We need to cry a lot more often. We have gotten so tough; I fear sometimes that our hearts are becoming stones. We see the endless cacophony of horror stories against humanity around the world, and our hearts get so tough. The losses just become nameless numbers, another news story, and we forget how horrible it truly is. Many of us just can’t face it. We avert our eyes, change the subject, change the channel, and turn off our hearts. We choose to forget what those numbers mean as a “coping” mechanism. But denial of human suffering is an unhealthy and inhuman “coping” mechanism that we need to leave behind as a mature society. We need to grow up and face the real “monster in the closet” that is the suffering of humanity and the shared human threat of institutionalized hate.
We need to spend more time with our hearts and remember that our fellow beings aren’t just numbers. So as they read the names, I saw them in front of my eyes. The brothers and the sisters, the mothers and the fathers, the loners, the brave, the desperate, and most of all the helpless children - as I listened to each name - I saw their lives extinguished one by one like the flames of candles.
Over 6 million... human beings. And every one - was somebody. They weren’t a number, they weren’t a statistic, they weren’t a “fiction,” and they weren’t just “victims.” Each one was a HUMAN BEING. Each one was a person whose life was stolen by institutionalized hate.
In the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Hall of Remembrance, where the names of those murdered were read on April 21, phrases from the Torah have been placed on the walls. One was from Deuteronomy 30:19, concluded “Choose Life - that you and your offspring shall live.” Until we accept the value of our fellow human beings and show love to each other, we will continue to fail to grasp this fundamental message in choosing life over institutionalized hate, choosing life over denial of human suffering, and choosing life over craven indifference to our fellow human beings. In choosing life, we also recognize that our lives do not begin and end with just our own personal happiness, but extend to our responsibilities to love our fellow human beings as our neighbors, brothers, and sisters in humanity. We have a choice - we must choose life in humanity loving our fellow human beings. Choose life and choose love.
When humanity is threatened by institutionalized hate of its universal human rights, it is our responsibility to speak out. It is our responsibility to act in defending the human rights of our fellow human beings. If we choose life as part of the human race, then we must share the obligations and responsibilities in protecting the human rights of our brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity.
“Silence is death” is the message of the North Korea Freedom Coalition that is also remembering an estimated 3 million North Koreans that have died under North Korea’s brutal dictatorial regime since the mid-1990s, and who continue to die today. Again - every one... was somebody - they were a human being.
The North Korea Freedom Coalition is holding a rally at the West front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC on Tuesday April 28 at 12 noon; it will have a North Korea genocide exhibit on display. The North Korea Freedom Coalition is trying to remind us that the genocide of humanity continues to happen today. This rally is part of “North Korea Freedom Week,” which is a series of events planned in the Washington DC metropolitan area to raise awareness about the North Korean totalitarian government’s attack on humanity.
Many in America’s governmental leadership are deeply concerned about the efforts of the North Korean government and its leader Kim Jong Il in developing nuclear weapons. Our diplomats have sought to negotiate with North Korea on these tactical security issues of grave importance. But we will never have any type of security that isn’t built on a foundation of respecting the universal human rights of equality and liberty. We will never successfully negotiate a “security” position with a Communist nation like North Korea while it starves its people, denies them human rights, and holds its citizens in concentration camps. We will never successfully achieve “peace for our times” with North Korea while it holds humanity’s fundamental rights in contempt.
While many of us say “Never Again” to the Holocaust, in fact genocide is happening again - in North Korea, in Sudan, and in many parts of the world. This is why we must accept the lesson that “Never Again” means promoting love for our fellow members of humanity and their universal human rights.
On Sunday April 26, I was privileged to join supporters of the North Korea Freedom Foundation at a candlelight vigil at the International Calvary Church in Springfield, Virginia - a suburb of Washington DC in Northern Virginia. If you ever want to meet a group of people who truly “fear no evil,” this is where to find them. They held a candlelight vigil to remember and pray for North Koreans who have been beaten to death and publicly executed, and the policies of North Korea and Communist China that have resulted in the murder of these individuals. Like the names read out at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, each one murdered was also somebody - each one was a human being whose life was also stolen by institutionalized hate - Lol Kil Sung, Ms. Ko Mae Hwa’s daughter, Lee Ock, Kim Jin Ock, Sohn In Kuk, and many others, including countless others we don’t know if they are alive or dead.
At the vigil and prayer service, I was privileged to see defectors who stood fearlessly to show their commitment to human rights, and I was privileged to meet a true champion of human rights, Suzanne Scholte, who has led the efforts of the North Korea Freedom Foundation coalition in campaigning for human rights in North Korea. At a banner in the International Calvary Church, its members are told to “Love Neighbor,” even as thousands of their neighbors are indifferent to the suffering of the millions of North Koreans. As many testified on April 26 during the vigil and service, the answer to the institutionalized hate of the suffering North Korean people - is love. Love is the universal language of humanity.
Many believe that Communist totalitarianism in North Korea, Communist China, and other nations is about statist “control,” not hate. This confusion shows how much we still have to learn as human beings about our shared responsibility for the universal human rights of equality and liberty. Just like Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Communist totalitarianism also hates humanity. Communist totalitarianism hates humanity because it completely rejects the truth of humanity’s universal human right to liberty. Communist totalitarianism doesn’t hate because it controls — it controls because of its hate and contempt for humanity’s most fundamental right of liberty.
Institutionalized hate seeks to control human beings and deny their universal human rights of equality and liberty, because love is really a dangerous thing for them. If you love your fellow human being, how can you deny their equality, their liberty, their freedom? Institutionalized hate can’t tolerate such love, because when people start loving each other then they will start calling for each other’s human rights, and institutionalized hate just can’t have that.
Now as someone with a degree in political science, I will tell you that we political science types have fancy names for the different shades of institutionalized hate. We like to call such institutionalized hate names such as totalitarianism, supremacism, and whatever-you-want-to-call-it “ism.” I know that I do it, and that’s what happens when you get a political science degree. We do that because the study of political science is to understand diverse political systems, behavior, and philosophies - and that is how we catalog variations of institutionalized hate. What we don’t do is universally recognize such anti-humanity ideologies of repression as institutionalized hate.
But as a human being, I will also state that there really is no meaningful difference between the shades of institutionalized hate, no matter what we want to call it. As human beings, we must not get caught up only in the detailed political science argument or the right-left argument, and miss this fundamental point. There is no real difference between “right wing” hate and “left wing” hate; there is no difference between “racial” or “religious” hate. There is no difference between the atrocities of the Nazis or the atrocities of the Communists. Murder is murder. Hate is hate. Institutionalized hate is the same - no matter what political, racial, social, or religious label that it chooses to wear. Institutionalized hate is the common enemy of all of humanity.
This is why we can’t “choose our battles” when defying institutionalized hate. An attack on our human rights anywhere is an attack on our human rights everywhere. When we believe that we can only care about the human rights of those like us, or only those whose cause we find appealing, then we miss the point. It is our consistent responsibility for equality and liberty and our consistent commitment to love our fellow human beings that is the foundation for challenging institutionalized hate. We cannot love one another, and be indifferent to institutionalized hate in areas that are “not our cause.” Our love for humanity, like our human rights of equality and liberty, must be universal. So must be our action in defying those who would deny such universal human rights.
For example, many people would rather ignore that Communist China practices such institutionalized hate of humanity through its denial of universal human rights. It is terribly inconvenient for many people, and certainly inconvenient for many business interests. Communist China’s history of Communist totalitarianism, repression, concentration camps, and brutal treatment of its citizens is an inconvenient truth for many Americans who depend on products and goods developed by a repressed Chinese people who are denied such universal human rights. Turning a blind eye to Communist China’s atrocities is a good “business” practice for many.
Too many ignore the Communist Chinese government’s history of murdering 20 to 80 million of its own citizens through Mao Zedong’s policies of repression, the Communist Chinese government democide, and Mao’s intimidation of dissent leading to murderous famines resulting from the “Great Leap Forward.” In Mao: The Unknown Story, Jung Chang and Jon Halliday estimate that perhaps 27 million people died in prisons and labor camps during Mao Zedong’s rule. Once again, every one... was somebody - they were a human being.
Too many ignore the Communist Chinese government’s Laogai forced labor concentration camps that continue to exist today, which the Laogai Research Foundation states there are 1,045 such concentration camps holding an estimated 6.8 million prisoners. I challenge those who believe in human freedom to look at the map of these Communist Chinese concentration camps and say that we believe in “Never Again.” I challenge those who believe that such concentration camps exist only in history to visit the Laogai Museum, located at 1109 M St. NW, Washington DC, and see the reality for themselves.
Too many ignore the endless series of atrocities from Communist China - the organ harvesting of prisoners, the forced abortions, and the affront to the dignity of human bodies by selling and displaying human corpses. Too many believe that human rights in Communist China are not a priority for America’s foreign policy objectives.
I ask you - would you buy a product labeled “Made in Nazi Germany”? If not, then why is it any DIFFERENT for a product “Made in Communist China”? We need to recall our ambassadors of denial, ignorance, and amorality from representing America in globalism. We need to restore conscience to capitalism. “Never Again” does begin with love for humanity and our consistent responsibility for its universal human rights.
Twenty years ago, in 1989, something important happened in Communist China. Something happened that we must never ever forget. In the capital city of Beijing and in other parts of Communist China, its citizens began to call for freedom on April 14, 1989. For a time, the power of human freedom was rekindled in the hearts of the Chinese people. From April 14 through June 4, 1989, protests were held for freedom around China and in a place known as Tiananmen Square. To those of you who are old enough remember, I hope that the very words “Tiananmen Square” make your heart ache and make your eyes water. We must remember the Tiananmen Square where students of freedom stood up to Communist soldiers, where students of freedom chose to go on a hunger strike, and where students erected a brief statue to liberty that looked so achingly like our own. We must remember the Tiananmen Square where those who stood for the love of humanity’s universal rights of freedom paid the ultimate price for defying hate, and many died on June 3 and 4, 1989. Finally, we must remember the Tiananmen Square where, on June 5, 1989, a solitary man stood against a row of tanks. One fearless hero of freedom loved his fellow man and his country that much. One unarmed man stood with nothing but his defense of freedom.
Some things you never forget.
So it saddens my heart, during this time of remembrance of those who stood against institutionalized hate in Communist China, to see so many who seem to be so readily willing to forget.
On May 5, at the Washington DC embassy of the ironically named “People’s Republic of China,” an organization named the Institute for Education (IFE) is holding a “Civility Award” cocktail reception and dinner at this Communist Chinese embassy. The IFE seeks to “foster civility” and “intercultural understanding.” Tickets to the dinner at the Communist Chinese embassy cost between $1,000 and $50,000. According to the IFE, a series of notable individuals are listed as confirmed “opinion leaders” who will be attending this exercise in “civility” with the Communist Chinese ambassador at the embassy. You will no doubt recognize many of the names listed by the IFE: Tom Friedman (The New York Times), Bob Woodward, David Broder (The Washington Post), Eleanor Clift (Newsweek), Ed Henry (CNN), Judy Woodruff (PBS), John Harwood (CNBC), Jerry Seib and Gerard Baker (The Wall Street Journal), Morton Kondracke (Roll Call), Hugo Gurdon (The Hill), Juan Williams, Jim Angle, and Jennifer Griffin (FOX News), Norm Ornstein (American Enterprise Institute), and Congressman Mark Kirk.
If this doesn’t give you an idea of the depth of our bipartisan, national problem in consistently being responsible for equality and liberty, I don’t what will.
The adults going to the May 5 cocktail reception and dinner at the Communist Chinese embassy aren’t some young teenagers who never heard about the Tiananmen Square massacre of 20 years ago. Most of them remember - all of them know. More importantly, they know better.
The IFE will argue that this cocktail reception and dinner is to spread “civility.” I disagree. It sends yet another signal of legitimizing and appeasement to the leaders of oppression. It sends yet another message that we will ignore the institutionalized hate that Chinese Communist leaders have for the universal human rights of humanity.
I argue that there is nothing civil about having cocktails with representatives of a Communist totalitarian nation that has over 1,000 concentration camps today. There is nothing civil about legitimizing those who support oppression and those who have contempt for humanity’s fundamental human right of liberty. The civil answer to offers to socialize with totalitarians is “no, thank you, not until you recognize human rights.” I would hope that the “opinion leaders” listed by the IFE come to this conclusion, and I urge you to contact them and ask them to publicly boycott this event on May 5. Perhaps they could truly serve as opinion leaders on issues that really matter.
I can still be civil and speak for human equality, liberty, and justice. You will see me doing so on June 4 at the Communist Chinese embassy. But I will be outside, on the street, where I belong - with free people, not inside legitimizing totalitarianism. I will be outside remembering those millions who have lost their lives to Communist China and remembering those who lost their lives in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. I will be outside the Communist Chinese embassy as I was on June 4, 1989 in support of the Chinese martyrs for freedom then. I hope you will join me. We are all responsible for equality and liberty.
Civility truly does matter - but it starts with love for your fellow human being. If you love your fellow human being, then you have no choice but to defy those who would hate them, and you have no choice but to defy institutionalized hate of the universal human rights of equality and liberty.
If we must defy hate with love, we must not even hate the oppressors in their civil war against humanity itself.
The cancer of hate attacks all who are touched by hate, even those who advocate it. In the disease of hate against humanity, the practitioners of hate are also victims themselves. That is why we must pray for and we must plead with them to see the error of their ways. We must seek them to end their institutionalized hate against humanity and rejoin the family of human beings. In challenging institutionalized hate, we must acknowledge the humanity of even the oppressors and the hatemongers, and it is with our love of humanity that we plead for them to change.
We must also acknowledge that those who are indifferent to such human suffering are also in our family of humanity. While we may be hurt by their indifference, we must consistently show our love to remind them that they are our brothers and sisters in humanity.
Love is the foundation of all human rights. None of us should claim to have all of the answers to humanity’s problems. But we know that the answer to most problems starts with love.
You intuitively know what’s right. Your children know what’s right. You know what is right begins with love. Your heart knows that our love for each other is the foundation of our natural human rights. We need to start listening to our own hearts. By loving our fellow human beings, we find no choice but to defend their human rights. We need to find the courage to make ourselves consistently responsible for such human rights in our lives.
We are all part of something bigger than ourselves - the human race. No matter our religion (or lack thereof), no matter our race, no matter our gender, national origin, etc., we are all human beings. We are all part of one family of humanity. You don’t choose your family of humanity. It includes those who are brave and those who are afraid. It includes those who seek freedom and those who oppress. Regardless of all of their differences, they remain your family of humanity. We are all a part of each other. When you hate members of your family, you hate a part of yourself. Hate is never an answer to hate. Indifference is never an answer to indifference.
There is only one answer to hate and indifference towards the universal rights of your family of humanity - the answer is love.
Ultimately, Love Wins.
For details of what you can do in our common cause, see RealCourage.org.
__._,_.___
If reposting elsewhere, please credit source of this research as UnitedStatesAction.com
[There are many hidden urls in article]
US-CERT Current Activity
Swine Flu Phishing Attacks and Email Scams
Original release date: April 27, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Last revised: April 27, 2009 at 3:04 pm
US-CERT is aware of public reports of email scams circulating related
to the Swine Flu. The attacks arrive via an unsolicited email message
typically containing a subject line related to the Swine Flu. These
email messages may contain a link or an attachment. If users click on
this link or open the attachment, they may be directed to a phishing
website or exposed to malicious code.
US-CERT encourages users to take the following measures to protect
themselves:
* Do not follow unsolicited web links or attachments in email
messages.
* Maintain up-to-date antivirus software.
* Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document
for more information on avoiding email scams.
* Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks
document for more information on social engineering attacks.
US-CERT will provide additional details as they become available.
Relevant Url(s):
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-014.html
http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/
http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/emailscams_0905.pdf
As the shocking confidential information contained in this briefing shows, the threat of social meltdown and chaos is so large a domestic law-enforcement arm of the U.S. military (referred to by The Army Times as the “Consequence Management Response Force”) has been created to deal with what U.S. officials believe to be a coming, unprecedented wave of massive social chaos.<<<
I can’t say that I am surprised, look at this past weekend when they tried to break up the party at the college, all hell broke loose.
I remember the Watt’s riots in Los Angeles, they sure needed a trained military there.
We had these same reports under clinton for Y2K, it has now been shown that the training in the towns that we heard of, was to prepare the Military for the kind of fighting they have done in Iraq.
Nothing surprises me and if anyone wants to know how bad it is going to be, listen a police scanner for a week.
We will need the Military, if it gets worse, for a depression or for a pandemic.
Thanks to our knowledgeable,caring posters,I think most Freepers are in Category 2. I, for one am getting most of my news here on Free Republic. Being so busy with gardening and survival chores, it is gratifying to know I can come here in the evening and get “all the news that matters.”
Thanks, Freepers.
WHO raises pandemic alert to phase 4 [updated 7:15 p.m. CST]
Robert Roos * News Editor
Apr 27, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today raised its official pandemic alert level from the current phase 3 to phase 4 on its 6-phase scale, saying the newly identified swine influenza virus has made a pandemic more likely but not inevitable.
“We think we have taken a step in that [pandemic] direction, but a pandemic is not considered inevitable at this time,” said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s assistant director-general for health security and environment, at a press conference from Geneva.
By the WHO’s definition, phase 4 means that a novel flu virus has become sufficiently transmissible to cause sustained community outbreaks. Phase 3 signals that a new virus is causing sporadic illness cases or small clusters of cases but is not spreading enough to cause larger outbreaks.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan decided to raise the alert phase on the recommendation of the agency’s Emergency Committee, which met today.
Fukuda said it was clear to the committee that person-to-person transmission of the swine flu virus is going on. Confirmed swine flu cases have been reported in Mexico, the United States, Canada, and Spain (one case).
“Given the widespread presence of the virus, the director-general considered that containment of the outbreak is not feasible,” the WHO said in a statement. “The current focus should be on mitigation measures.”
The WHO also recommended today that governments not close borders or restrict travel, saying those steps would likely cause major disruptions while doing little to keep the virus from spreading. However, the agency said it is prudent for sick people to delay international travel and for those who get sick after travel to seek medical attention.
In addition, the WHO advised that production of seasonal flu vaccine should not be interrupted in favor of making a swine flu vaccine at this point. The recommendation comes as flu season in the southern hemisphere is getting under way.
At the same time, Fukuda said the Emergency Committee advised the WHO “to take all steps to facilitate development of a vaccine that could protect people against this new virus.” He estimated it will take 4 to 6 months to develop and begin producing such a vaccine, and several more months to make it in large quantities.
The WHO move came the same day the US swine flu count doubled to 40 cases with the addition of 20 more cases associated with a school in New York City and as federal health officials advised against nonessential travel to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreaks.
Phase change considerations
In raising the alert phase, the WHO committee “felt that, given the rapidly evolving situation, it was important to send a strong signal to countries that now is a good time to strengthen preparedness for pandemic influenza if it continues to evolve in that direction,” said Fukuda.
Although the WHO’s official guidance on pandemic phases and related actions suggests that containment of a new virus may still be possible in phase 4, the agency made clear today that it does not believe it’s still possible to contain the virus to a small geographic area. This agrees with what US health officials have been saying.
“The committee discussed the situation in depth and decided that . . . really this virus is too widespread to make containment a feasible consideration,” Fukuda said.
The WHO ventured no predictions about how long the pandemic alert will remain at phase 4. “As further information becomes available, WHO may decide to either revert to phase 3 or raise the level of alert to another phase,” the agency statement said.
When Fukuda was asked why the WHO didn’t move the alert to phase 5, he indicated the committee had some doubts about the extent of community outbreaks. Phase 5 is defined as a situation involving sustained community outbreaks in two or more countries within one WHO region. Phase 6 means sustained community outbreaks in more than one WHO region.
In carefully reviewing the epidemiologic data, including the confirmed and suspected cases, the WHO committee was convinced that person-to-person transmission is going on, said Fukuda. “But there’s a recognition that we’d really like more information on the sustainability of the virus, and one of the signs would be widespread community outbreaks. If you look at the case reported in Spain, this was a case in a traveler returning from Mexico, and we don’t really have any evidence of community spread of infections occurring within a country.”
Commenting on the recommendation against travel restrictions, he said, “At this point, with the virus widespread . . . closing borders or restricting travel really has very little effect if any effect at stopping the movement of this virus; however it would cause a great deal of disruption of countries.” He said modeling studies have indicated it would take “very, very draconian restrictions on travel” to slow the virus’s spread.
Possible impact of WHO move
Peter M. Sandman, PhD, a risk-communication expert and business consultant, welcomed the WHO’s phase change as a step that may increase preparedness efforts by many countries and companies and should increase preparations by individuals.
Although the WHO has been criticized for not raising the alert level sooner, the system has worked much as expected, given that the agency had to get a consensus, Sandman commented by e-mail.
“It matters a lot that the WHO caught up this evening,” he said. “US government officials have been saying for two days now that they’re responding to conditions on the ground, not to any ‘label’ the WHO might decide to apply or not apply. That may be true for the CDC and other US agencies. But it’s not true for health officials in countries without any confirmed cases so far, many of which have written pandemic plans that specify a different response to phase 4 than to phase 3. And it’s not true for companies, especially multinational companies, many of which have their own pandemic plans keyed to the WHO stages. Ditto for cities and states with pandemic plans but no local cases; the WHO phase shift may trigger a response from them as well.
“And a lot of smaller companies and smaller communities without pandemic plans have been waiting for a signal to start taking precautionary action. This may be the signal they have been waiting for.”
Sandman said that in their messages to the public, US health officials so far have recommended only hygiene practices, not more concrete preparedness steps such as stockpiling supplies. He said he hopes that the shift to phase 4 will inspire the public to do much more.
“We are losing precious preparedness time—time to go out and buy supplies before there’s a real emergency, while the shelves are still full and the stores can still replenish; and time to think through what life might be like in a week or two if all schools are closed, most businesses are closed, and many people are very, very sick,” Sandman said.
“The trick is to do all that preparing while bearing in mind that this swine flu outbreak may very well fizzle. In other words, we must prepare for the worst without committing ourselves to expecting the worst,” he added.
Sandman concluded, “Here’s the secret of preparedness that fearful government leaders tend to forget: It’s a calming experience to prepare. People who have been working hard not to worry about the pandemic that might be looming, people who have spent today holding back that gathering knot in their guts, will feel more in control after they have taken some concrete steps to get themselves and their family ready. I hope they read tonight’s WHO decision as advice to do that tomorrow.”
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/apr2709phase.html
I have a question for everyone here that has been around the survivalist stuff for a while — have stories like this always been there or is it more prevalent lately?<<<
I think about the same as it was for Y2K.
Something about the democrat Presidents that scares folks.
Thanks for the link for the Vit d articles, interesting and with vit C, one might well avoid getting the flu.
Mexico Says Suspected Swine Flu Deaths Now At 149 (Schools now closed nationwide!)<<<
Thanks for the link, it is going as the pandemic plans were drawn up to protect the public, all over the world.
“We are losing precious preparedness time—time to go out and buy supplies before there’s a real emergency, while the shelves are still full and the stores can still replenish; and time to think through what life might be like in a week or two if all schools are closed, most businesses are closed, and many people are very, very sick,” Sandman said.<<<<
He is so right and many do not realize that when the martial law starts, it means you are locked/quarantined in your home and the stores locked down.
If the trucks don’t run the highways, the shelves will be bare in a day.
Think of the hurricanes in Florida, and how they buy all there is to buy, when they know it is going to hit them.
I expect the U.S. to be hit as hard as Mexico, as the two countries citizens are back and forth across the border and bringing back the germs, legally and illegally.........
They have said for many years that one day we would have a disease attack such as the 1918 flu...........
Thanks for the pings-helps me keep up to date.
Time to get to the bank and stock up on things I don’t already have a 4 month supply of.
Good thing the freezer still has space in it.
Thank You , I had not seen this post so it is a valuable addition.. Very Much Appreciated.
>>I think about the same as it was for Y2K.
Something about the democrat Presidents that scares folks. <<
Ditto !
>>>Something about the democrat Presidents that scares folks.<<<
Not just the Presidents..... 2006 when they took over Congress, I moved all our 401k money to guaranteed funds from diversified stock portfolio... Have averaged 4.7% annual rate for 2 1/2 years... :^) Looks like the distrust was warranted! Bet some others wish they had distrusted too.
Napolitano said the strategy of identifying and isolating those who seem ill and try to cross into the United States was adequate given the circumstances, as a reporter asked if closure of the border had been considered.
“We're already doing passive surveillance at the border,” Napolitano said. “You would close the border if you thought you could contain the spread of disease, but the disease is already in a number of U.S. states.”
This may be one of the top 10 dumbest remarks ever spoken .
try some simple word substitutions for "disease" and "number of U.S. states"
Now imagine something of this nature being spoken by.. Teddy Roosevelt , Gen Patton, Gen MacArthur, Gen Schwarzkopf, etc.etc.etc. WTH ..??
>>>Something about the democrat Presidents that scares folks.<<<
” at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years.
According to Gallup’s April survey, Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969. The only new president less popular was Bill Clinton, who got off to a notoriously bad start after trying to force homosexuals on the military and a federal raid in Waco, Texas, that killed 86. Mr. Obama’s current approval rating of 56 percent is only one tick higher than the 55-percent approval Mr. Clinton had during those crises.
As the attached chart shows, five presidents rated higher than Mr. Obama after 100 days in office. Ronald Reagan topped the charts in April 1981 with 67 percent approval. Following the Gipper, in order of popularity, were: Jimmy Carter with 63 percent in 1977; George W. Bush with 62 percent in 2001; Richard Nixon with 61 percent in 1969; and George H.W. Bush with 58 percent in 1989.
It’s no surprise the liberal media aren’t anxious to point out that their darling is less popular than George W. Bush. But given the Gallup numbers, their hurrahs could be more subdued. USA Today’s front page touted the April poll results as positive, with the headline: “Public thinks highly of Obama.” The current cover of Newsweek magazine ponders “The Secret of His [Mr. Obama’s] Success.” The comparison with previous presidents is useful because they are usually popular during their first few months in office - and most presidents have been more popular than Mr. Obama.
full article:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/28/baracks-in-the-basement/
Good thing the freezer still has space in it.<<<
Don’t go to heavy on the freezer food, for it will be easy to loose the electric.
All I can do is draw on the things that I have heard over the years, for I don’t have a crystal ball.
As I see it if the flu goes to the martial law stage and a full lockdown, we will then be in the same place we would be if a nuclear bomb was dropped, minus the bomb site/hole.
If we are locked down, food will not move to the stores and there will be no one to sell the food if it is on the shelf.
If an electric line breaks/blows down, the utility workers will not be in the field to fix it.
If your transformer blows out or gets a bird in it, your electric will go to.
At some point the computers will cease to work in the water and electric also sewer companies.
and there is always a terrorist ready to take advantage of the bad situation, and willing to see the electric does not come back on.
Even back in the 1950’s the Gov. wanted us to store food and needs for an emergency, during the cold war.
Have averaged 4.7% annual rate for 2 1/2 years... :^) Looks like the distrust was warranted! Bet some others wish they had distrusted too.<<<
Good for you, yes many wish they had listened.
“We’re already doing passive surveillance at the border,” Napolitano said. “You would close the border if you thought you could contain the spread of disease, but the disease is already in a number of U.S. states.”<<<
I cried when she was elected.
Last week the new Gov was in our county, she was on the radio, talked about how bad a shape our state is in, and then told us what she was doing to fix it.
Then she said, “If all goes as we have worked it out, we should be back on an even keel in 2012..”
That is what the brainy Napolitano did for our state.
We will not see the border close, until a couple of the democratic leaders get the flu and die, then the rest will get scared and close it.
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