Collapse - The Movie

A new movie on DVD is coming out for our collapse preparation pleasure,...simply called "Collapse", this movie defines what they mean when they say "Collapse - happens to every civilization". The following release and movie trailer will give you an idea on the direction of the movie, or you can go to the web site and see the same as well as some movie reviews - if they mean anything. And even though I hope they are wrong when they same Collapse is now inevitable, I'll be buying and watching the movie myself.

Americans generally like to hear good news. They like to believe that a new president will right old wrongs, that clean energy will replace dirty oil and that fresh thinking will set the economy straight. American pundits tend to restrain their pessimism and hope for the best. But is anyone prepared for the worst?

Meet Michael Ruppert, a different kind of American. A former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, he predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter, From the Wilderness, at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial. Director Chris Smith has shown an affinity for outsiders in films like American Movie and The Yes Men. In Collapse, he departs stylistically from his past documentaries by interviewing Ruppert in a format that recalls the work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray.

Sitting in a room that looks like a bunker, Ruppert recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out the crises he sees ahead. He draws upon the same news reports and data available to any Internet user, but he applies a unique interpretation. He is especially passionate about the issue of peak oil, the concern raised by scientists since the seventies that the world will eventually run out of fossil fuel. While other experts debate this issue in measured tones, Ruppert doesn't hold back at sounding an alarm, portraying an apocalyptic future. Listening to his rapid flow of opinions, the viewer is likely to question some of the rhetoric as paranoid or deluded, and to sway back and forth on what to make of the extremism. Smith lets viewers form their own judgments.

Collapse also serves as a portrait of a loner. Over the years, Ruppert has stood up for what he believes in despite fierce opposition. He candidly describes the sacrifices and motivators in his life. While other observers analyze details of the economic crisis, Ruppert views it as symptomatic of nothing less than the collapse of industrial civilization itself.

West Point Tracks "Right Wing" Threats

I received this article from a friend working for the government who believes there is a trend for the federal government to look at Americans in the conservative, small government, pro guns rights groups as potential threat groups. If this is true, then it is disturbing. Even more alarming is the report about the U.S. Military, in this case the U.S. Military Academy stepping clearly into the law enforcment realm by studying what they term "threat groups" inside this country.

The below is the article from The Blaze:

The Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point released a study Tuesday warning against American “far right” groups including the “anti-federalist” movement and strong limited government activists.

The report, titled “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right,” posits that in recent years, and especially since 2007, “there has been a dramatic rise in the number of attacks and violent plots originating from individuals and groups who self-identify with the far-right of American politics.”

The analysis, conducted by West Point professor and CTC director of terrorism studies Arie Perliger, noted that his study “concentrates on those individuals and groups who have actually perpetuated violence and is not a comprehensive analysis of the political causes with which some far-right extremists identify.” He added that an in-depth look at the data provided addresses three crucial questions:

(1) What are the main current characteristics of the violence produced by the far right?

(2) What type of far-right groups are more prone than others to engage in violence? How are characteristics of particular far-right groups correlated with their tendency to engage in violence?

(3) What are the social and political factors associated with the level of far-right violence? Are there political or social conditions that foster or discourage violence?

The West Point professor said anti-federalists “espouse strong convictions regarding the federal government, believing it to be corrupt and tyrannical, with a natural tendency to intrude on individuals’ civil and constitutional rights. Finally, they support civil activism, individual freedoms, and self government. Extremists in the anti-federalist movement direct most their violence against the federal government and its proxies in law enforcement.”

Perliger also identified limited government activists as belonging to one of three categories: “a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement and a fundamentalist movement.”

According to the Washington Times, the report also draws correlation between mainstream conservatism and what it dubs the violent “far right.” The study then goes on to laud liberals as forward-thinking while maintaining that conservatives harbor a more archaic mindset.

“While liberal worldviews are future- or progressive -oriented, conservative perspectives are more past-oriented, and in general, are interested in preserving the status quo,” the report states.

“The far right represents a more extreme version of conservatism, as its political vision is usually justified by the aspiration to restore or preserve values and practices that are part of the idealized historical heritage of the nation or ethnic community.”

Citing a reported 350 “attacks initiated by far-right groups/individuals” in 2011, the analysis characterizes the liberal-democratic system as inclusive and “designed to emphasize civil rights” while far-right ideology inherently “excludes” minorities.

UrbanMan's comment: 350 attacks? Are you kidding me? I'd like to see what they list as far-right attacks. Also disturbing is the comments about a liberal (politically system) emphasizing civil rights when there is a huge call to take away substantial 2nd amendment rights while the right (conservatives) are characterized as basically racists.

Perlinger’s study, however, has not gone without meeting a degree of criticism. Speaking to the Times, a Republican congressional staffer slammed: “If [the Defense Department] is looking for places to cut spending, this junk study is ground zero.”

He added that the Combating Terrorism Center should be focused on radical Islam and, at the least, publish a companion report underlying the dangers of left-wing terror groups like “the Animal Liberation Front, Earth Liberation Front, and the Weather Underground.”

The CTC describes itself as “one of the leading academic institutions devoted to the study of terrorism” whose research is informed by three core components including” studying emerging threats, challenging conventional logic and offering counter intuitive insights.”

UrbanMan's comment: I have the greatest respect for the military and all those who serve in the government who are risking their lives to protect this country. The military in particular enjoys much respect and credibility with the American people. Recent comments from retired General McCrystal about Americans should not be allowed to own AR's, this West Point study, and the previous posted article about the military puting down a "tea party" rebellion as alarming to say the least.

More on Survival Caches

I have been getting quite a few comments and e-mails with opinions and recommendations on caches. Survivalists would, of course, use caches for many diverse reasons.

 

• To support Bug Out especially from an Urban area into a rural area for transit to your final Bug Out location or tentative rally point or assembly area.
• To hide some material or equipment to safeguard it from people who want to take it away from you.
• Cache emplaced to support an operation so travel to that operations in an area does not have to include bringing in so much material.

 

You have to have some way to record caches so over time they will not be forgotten, or you may be sending caches reports to other people for recovery.  The best way to record the cache information and location is a written record maybe backed up by a electronic file on your PDA, tablet or I phone.

 

Everyone is now thinking I am recommendating breaking OPSEC or otherwise having a record with anyone seeing it, being able to get the goods. Not so. You could use a password encypted file for your cache records and you can use a default numerical subtraction or addition code to the information vital for the actual cache location and recovery. See more of this below.

 

Here is what I think it a suitable elements of a Cache report are:

 

Cache name or designation - so you can keep track of recovery, especially if you have multiple caches in.

 

Cache contents. Be specific.

 

Other Information. How cache is emplaced. How items are weather proofed or not. Container(s) description(s) and dimension(s). How deep cache is buried if this is a burial cache (most common). What tools will be neded to recovery the cache.

 

General Area. This would be a general description of the area the cache is located. This should be a general direction, such as EAST and a distance in a common measurement,...meaning do not use leagues for a measurement unless you are a pirate.

 

Specific Area. This would be direction on how to get to the Immediate Reference Point (IRP) which is where you will usually need to measure a direction and distance from to locate the Final Reference Point (FRP) and from there the cache. The immediate reference point should be something that is not likely to move or disappear.

 

Final Reference Point (IRP). This will be a fairly easy marker like a large rock, distinct tree, bridge abutment or something along these lines where you will again measure a distance (tape measure is handy).

 

An Example Cache Report may look like this: 

 

Cache Report.
Cache B#14.
Cache Contents:
2 each Military style Green Ponchos
60 feet of tan colored 3/32 inch diameter string
2 each one gallon water containers, full, not disinfected nor treated
1 four ounce bottle of water purification drops
6 each Meals Ready to Eat,
complete 1 AR-7 surival rifle
2 each 50 round boxes of .22 LR CCI Stinger ammunition
1 each folding Buck knife with belt sheath
1 each 16 inch crosscut saw
1 each butane lighter

 

Other Information: All items wrapped in water proof plastic. All items in one wooden box, 30 inches long by 14 inches wide by 14 inches deep. Top of box buried approximately 18 inches from ground surface. Using metal prob to locate wooden box is recommended. Ground is dirt with grass, weeds and small scrubs. Cache site is visible from IRP so security upon recovery is a concern. Shovel will be necessary to recover emplaced cache.

 

 

General Area. West of Springerville, AZ. Travel 13.5 miles WEST on US Hwy 60.

 

 

Specific Area. From US 60, South on County Road 3123 for 8.2 miles to IRP.

 

Immediate Reference Point (IRP).  On WEST side of County Road 3123 there is a dirt road heading generally WEST. There is a Forest Service gate here.

 

Final Reference Point (FRP).  The FRP is located from the IRP (NORTH end of the gate) on a magentic azimith 032 degrees and at a distance of 62 feet is a large, oval granite rock approx 18 inches long and 12 inches wide. This is the FRP.

 

Cache Location. The cache is buried 18 inches below the ground from the FRP on a magnetic azimuth of 045 degrees and at a distance of 36 feet.

 

Notes on Caching.

 

When emplacing caches consider natural weather conditions such as run off or snow cover that would uncover or expose the cache or make recover difficult.  Or make location and recovery of the cache too difficult.

 

Using ponchos or tarps to separate the different layers of earth when emplacing the cache, then reversing the layers of dirt when covering the caching will greatly aid in the concealment of the cache.

 

Depicting a concealed route to the cache IRP and/or a good position from which to observe the IRP and FRP may help in the safe recovery.  

 

For additional security against the wrong person or people recovering your cache, you may have an internal procedure where you add a certain number, let's say 65 to your azimuth and distance measurements.  Therefore  the example azimuths and distances from the IRP to the FRP would be  097 degrees and 127 feet.  The cache location from the FRP would be 110 degrees and 101 feet.  Then when recovering  the cache the right recovering party would know to subtract 65 from each direction in magnetic degrees and distance in feet. 

SHTF: Inflation Into Hyper-Inflation

While not too concerned about larger Government conspiracies I am concerned about Inflation leading into Hyper-Inflation and the good chance that this will all precipitate a economic collapse. This is much more likely to be the root cause of SHTF,...... barring any nuclear attack, super density cyber attack or flaming metorite strikes on the earth.

A total economic collapse could also be the cause of large government restrictions on the population and placing martial law into effect.

But we get closer and closer to runaway inflation with the fuel prices, and prices of foods and other commodities increasing daily, compounded by the reduction of earnings through higher taxation. On an every two week basis, my pay has been reduced $125. That's basically a $250 reduction in buying, saving, investing and ultimately prepping power each month.

Even the major news networks and Government are warning of higher food prices. While there is not a single cause for this, droughts, natural disasters, higher fuel prices and the devalued dollar are all combining to cause these higher food prices. The article below is from a USDA paid economist. I think he is vastly understating the potential of increased prices as other good sources tell us that, on average, food prices have went up 20% through 2012. Look at you own checkbook and grocery receipts and come to your own conclusion.

Higher Food Prices Coming,.....for sure. A USDA economist says Americans will be paying more at the grocery store in 2013.


"Inflation's going to pick up in 2013 over what we have seen in 2012. So we are looking ahead at a year of above normal food price inflation," says economist Ricky Volpe of USDA's Economic Research Service. Volpe says to expect food price inflation of 3% to 4% in 2013. He says the drought affecting two-thirds of the nation is partly to blame.

"The major impact of the drought in the Midwest, higher corn prices leads to higher feed prices, leads to higher animal prices, and higher prices for all animal products," Volpe says. He adds that consumers will see especially higher prices for beef. "We are still faced with historically low inventory for cattle in the U.S.," Volpe says. "So we still have supply that's low relative to demand. We have strong inflation; that's not going anywhere, and the drought is only exacerbating that." Egg and dairy prices will also be higher as drought drives up feed costs.

"So we have these higher feed prices translating into higher milk prices, which especially in the coming months and the first quarter of 2013 we expect to see this translate into a hike in overall dairy prices," Volpe says. "As the impacts of higher corn prices and higher feed prices translate throughout much of the year, we’re looking at egg prices to go up another 3% to 4% in 2013."

Fresh produce prices, which stayed low in 2012, are also expected to rise in 2013.