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Monday, July 23, 2012

Alt-Market Prepper's Site

Came across another preppers site previously unknown to me. I don't know, I may be the last Survivalist in the U.S. to know about it, but in case one or two of you don't, the title of the last article on the site, Americans Are Being Prepared For Full Spectrum Tyranny will take you there.

Alt-Market states that is an organization designed to help you (the prepper) find like-minded activists and preppers in your local area so that you can network and construct communities for mutual aid and defense. I think that local, careful recruitment to a prepared lifestyle provides much more OPSEC that on-line or otherwise non-local exposure on the internet.

It's not like you should be ashamed of being prepared for anyting from natural disasters to total economic collapse, but not every Tom, Dick and Jane needs to know about it.

Back to Alt-Market,....a lead in to the last article begins:

Totalitarian governments, like persistent forms of cancer, have latched onto the long history of man, falling and then reemerging from the deep recesses of our cultural biology to wreak havoc upon one unlucky generation to the next. The assumption by most is that these unfortunate empires are the product of bureaucracies gone awry; overtaken by the chaotic maddening hunger for wealth and power, and usually manipulated by the singular ambitions of a mesmerizing dictator. For those of us in the Liberty Movement who are actually educated on the less acknowledged details of history, oligarchy and globalized centralism is much less random than this, and a far more deliberate and devious process than the general unaware public is willing to consider.

Unfortunately, the final truth is very complex, even for us… ...

So, not an endorsement, just wanted readers to know about this site.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Rehearsals for Martial Law?



There is alot of talk across the internet and no doubt between people face to face about the possibility of a economic collapse and subsequent deployment of the military control or quell the projected anarchy resulting from tens ir not hundreds of millions of people rioting.

There was a story from last week about the Army, actually the Army Reserves, conducting training in residential streets and highways in St. Louis, Missouri using armored vehicles. This was certainly out of the ordinary as the Military has large facilities for treaining at urban environments and even paid role players to serve as the population.

So what scenarios could the military be training for? Is there a realism edge to be gained from working with live American citizens in real suburbs and urban areas? Or is this a rehearsal for some sort of collapse plan where the military conucts security and control operations?

This is troubling to me.  Unless we are invaded by a foreign power, the military has no role, other than a collective supporting role, in domestic issues.    

Glenn Beck has his own ideas on what the military strategy could be. Beck had a interview with retired Special Forces Lt. Gen Boykin and one of the unique considerations was Boykin saying it is worrisome "about these public trainings is the conditioning they have on the public to a military presence."

See the Interview below:


Sunday, July 15, 2012

Debate on Survival Threat Groups

Since I posted the article on Racist Skinheads being a possible threat to survival in a infrastrucuture collapse, particularly a security decayed collapse environment, I have several comments posted and e-mail received debating, if in fact,  racists skinheads are anything to worry about.

My point in posting articles on street gangs, racists skinheads and other groups of fringe, radical or criminal elements as threats to our survival is simply that 1 - they are anti-socially and criminally prediposed, and 2 - are organized.

Organization is a big deal. Our survival in a post collapse world, from a inflationary/hyper- inflationary period to a full out infrastructure collapse, largely hinges on our ability to leverage teamwork. I applaud all of you lone survivors out there who plan and think you are going to "head for the hills" and live out of a Bug Out Bag, but the greatest majority of us need teams to survive.

That organization, from planning, to stockpiling, to providing security, to re-locating (Bugging Out) all accomplished by leveraging the resources and skills available from a group will make the difference.

Organization after the collapse will be much harder to do. Enter these organized threat groups. They are organized. Have chains of command and group rules. Have no reluctance to commit barbaric acts to continue their lifestyle. They probably have some useable common skills within their groups like mechanics, welding, electrical work, etc.  But their base skill is violence and lack of regard for human life.

During the precious first few days or weeks of a really giant collapse,...meaning a collapse where law enforcement and emergency forces are either over whelmed or otherwise ineffective,....these threat groups will be immmediately working to control more resources. Robberies, murders, home invasions, military armory thefts, etc., will skyrocket.

So again, yes all of these criminal groups, from common street gangs, to Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs to Racist Skinheads are threats to our survival especially those who choose to or be forced to "Bug In' in urban areas and adjacent suburban areas. The counter measures are knowing these threats, being prepared for security threats and having a survival team.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Urban Farming Supports Collapse Preparation

With unpredecented rises in food prices many people, including urban dwellers, are trying to reduce costs by growing their own food and bartering services or goods for food, and vice versa. The U.S. used to practically feed the world. Then we went from a large agricultural society to a manufacturing society now to an entitlement society, so the bits and pieces that we can see if people learning to take care of themselves, especially through these urban farming co-operatives are good news.

The simple and undeniable fact is that Long Range Survival Planning for the collapse has got to include the ability to grow your own food. 

The below is from an article titled Farmscape Brings Urban Agriculture to Los Angeles

In a dry and sunny city like Los Angeles, planting grass is one of the more useless ways to use your property. It takes a lot of water to grow and it's expensive—but beyond that, what's the point when the climate supports much more interesting flora, like succulents, and delicious ones, like fruits and vegetables?

A company called Farmscape is proving that there's enough of an appetite for farming on residential land to turn the proposition into a high-growth business. The less-than-four-year-old company has 12 full-time employees—including seven farmers who receive a living wage plus healthcare—and is looking to keep growing. So far they've installed more than 300 urban farms throughout the L.A. area and maintain 150 of them weekly. Projects range from a rooftop garden on a downtown Los Angeles highrise to small plots for families.

An exciting project in the works is a three-quarter acre-sized farm for a restaurant in the West San Fernando Valley. And the diversity of the projects is echoed by the diversity of their clients. "When we first started, we expected that our clients would be of a higher income level and would be two-parent working families," says Bailin. Instead, Farmscape has been delighted to build gardens for preschool teachers, single mothers, and institutions and businesses that want employee gardens as perks.

Bailin says the challenges of farming in Los Angeles are manifold. "You have to account for spaces that haven't had life or biodiversity for decades and then you kind of have to bring it back." The company uses raised beds to avoid contaminated soil and drip irrigation systems to provide water.

And their newest challenge? Running for office. The company has thrown its hat into the ring for the office of mayor of Los Angeles in the 2013 election, running on the platform of bringing back farms into the city. Bailin says it's an ironic way of questioning the bounds of "corporate personhood," extended to a corporation's right to free speech by the Supreme Court's ruling on Citizens United in 2010. "We’re testing the limit of what it is. If corporations are already deciding our politics by giving a bunch of money and lobbying, why not see if we can take out the middleman that would be the politician and make corporations the politician?"

It's a joke, of course, and the company will presumably never make it onto the ballot, but it's a clever way to get the word out about the company while making a statement. And perhaps this corporate candidate wouldn't be so bad anyway.

A related article on Urban Gardens:

Urban agriculture is not a new idea, but it’s being resurrected in cities throughout the country (and, for that matter, the world), in part because it’s one way of fighting childhood obesity, which, along with diabetes, is a serious health concern for children of all ages. The number of urban gardens in the United States has grown dramatically in such cities as Los Angeles, Detroit, Milwaukee, and San Francisco, where local governments and residents agree that these gardens are an important way to give children and residents access to healthy food like locally grown fresh produce.

Five Innovative Urban Gardening Programs in Los Angeles with links.

Urban Farming Food Chain Project
A partnership between Green Living Technologies and Emslie Osler Architects, this organization constructs “edible” food-producing wall panels and mounts them on buildings. The people who tend these vertical gardens use them for their own purposes (meaning produce is not sold commercially), but they currently have four locations in and around downtown Los Angeles.

Silver Lake Farms
Launched in 2004, Silver Lake Farms just began a Community Supported Agriculture program offering subscribers a weekly box of fresh produce, grown locally in Silver Lake. They also hold workshops on how to start your own vegetable garden, and sponsor a volunteer program that connects urban residents with local farms, community gardens, and homesteads to help out with some of the work.

Market Makeovers
Responding to poor access to fresh fruits and vegetables in their communities, South Los Angeles’s Healthy Eating, Active Communities initiative and Public Matters have teamed up to engage young people and convert corner stores into sources of healthy foods via an online toolkit.

Urban Homestead, Pasadena
An advocacy group for self-sufficient city living via farming and homesteading, this family-owned operation was started in the mid-1980s on a one tenth of an acre backyard plot. Most of the produce is sold to local restaurants and caterers.

Urban Farming Advocates
Formed in June 2009, Urban Farming Advocates is a group of individuals, small business owners, and organizations seeking to legalize urban farming in the City of Los Angeles. Their goal is to revise outdated ordinances that restrict people's freedom to use residential land for urban agriculture.