Mistaken Entitledness is a Core Global Issue

Short and sweet ... we are experiencing a period in history when most people don't feel required to earn their way in life. Instead, they are "entitled" to their place in the sun, whatever they deem that position to be.

It's an attitude that can can be found at the core of much of the unrest across the globe today. It's an attitude fostered by certain religious beliefs, by a few international organizations, and by political groups clearly leaning in one alarming direction.

The ultimate result of promoting entitlement, in whatever flavor a people will buy, is turmoil. Where we as a society are arriving today is at an intersection of animosity, distrust, and fear. People everywhere are being pushed and pulled together in a calamitous chain reaction.

The solutions to our various crises are not topical remedies to be applied like a soothing salve. It will take a major collective mindset change ... and that will not come about easily.

As You Sow, So Shall You Reap

Those who embrace a responsible work ethic are always the ones who come out on top, historically, eventually ... individually and culturally.

This is no time to allow yourself to be sucked into the sweeping flow down the chasm, becoming one of the majority who choose to emote and obstruct rather than being among those who are determined to promote and construct.

The principal value that will always be the way to least risk and greatest reward is to do for yourself and to apply yourself according to what you hope to accomplish. Talking about it won't cut it.

If you feel tough times are around the corner, now is the time to prepare. You have to do something about it. No one else will do it for you ... nor should they.


Get Ready, Seriously ... www.safecastle.com

Gold, Guns, and Grub - the Rebirth of Preparedness

There are a number of possible technical economic explanations for the ongoing surge in precious metal prices, but there's no denying the fact that the prices of gold and silver ARE climbing steadily with worldwide popular demand. And although there are always efforts afoot to whittle away at our right to bear arms, U.S. gun sales continue to cook.

I don't commercially deal in either of those commodities, but I CAN personally testify to the fact that freeze-dried food sales as well as selected other key preparedness product types are similarly enjoying strong, even unprecedented growth across the U.S.

Gold, guns, and grub (that stores for lengthy periods of time) are traditional refuges for the crisis preparedness "investor." As the number of disturbing and disastrous headlines multiply and speculators editorialize about scenarios for the doom of our life of comfort and convenience, more and more people buy into the logic of prepositioning their household, just in case.

And why not? These are unusually practical and low-risk uses for one's discretionary funds. Better to invest in insurance for the future than in transitory entertainment that delivers nothing beyond momentary detachment from reality.

It's a trend still in relatively early stages. The corporate monarchies are yet to recognize the implications, but with a bit more time or a couple more Katrina-like wake-up calls, it's inevitable.

H5N1's potential for worldwide disruptions, far beyond what was ever envisioned for Y2K, does have the attention of the movers and shakers. It's a big impetus for current movement in this market. Are you ahead of the curve?

See: "How the Bird Flu Experts Prepare"

Get Ready, Seriously ... www.safecastle.com

The Prudent Prepare

In the Crisis Preparedness sandbox we play in, most "veterans" come to adapt to the market rhythms that are fairly regular in cadence and which are being pounded out by the media.

From a large media perspective, it's 100% about engaging increasingly jaded and numbed audiences; gaining marketshare; and commanding higher ad revenues. Simplified--sensational angles equate to growing shareholder returns. And fledgling media outlets play the same game, just on a smaller scale.

For vulnerable readers, viewers, and listeners, the incessant news cycles thumping out the thrill or outrage of the hour sometimes means getting hooked to a roller coaster, and eventually yearning to regain some feeling of control over one's course in life.

Emotion Drives Reaction

I wish I had the time and resources to conduct a proper survey of the markets, but without it, I can only guess ... so I will ... I'd wager that half the folks who come into crisis preparedness, do so out of an emotional reaction to some news story or stories that are eliciting a sense of helplessness.

Suspicion, fear, anger, anxiety, hopelessness ... it can all channel people into feeling the need to do SOMETHING to counter whatever it is they are in the shadow of.

Reacting can be a healthy and productive response. Or if taken to an extreme, it can become a greater problem than the original anxiety source.

Methodical Remedies

I believe in preparedness as being a logical, intelligent way to position one's self for the future ... a future that in many ways is beyond our real control. To have a partial focus in life toward systematically and appropriately preparing for life's less-pleasant possibilities helps build personal peace of mind.

In fact, that's really how I present my crisis preparedness business--I am in the business of selling peace of mind.

Different folks need different measures of security and they instinctively come to realize what it is they need to find some improved inner peace. Oftentimes, it's going to mean a systematic approach to preparedness, wanting to build up one's household defenses against a wide range of perceived threats. Occasionally, it's more about reacting to one imminent threat that looms large. Either way, taking proper steps to offset or counter the risk is a material remedy that can deliver peace TODAY.

Real Threats Need Real Responses

The world today is full of real threats to our well being, but at the same time, it's important to note that those threats are almost always overinflated in the popular media because of the nature of that business. Today, the Doom du Jour is a selection of three specials: an H5N1 pandemic, the Iranian nuclear crisis, and surging ethnic tensions around the world. Pick your poison, then seek your personal antidote.

Do what you need to do, then disengage and focus your attention on life's other real demands.

For perspective--the world has always been a dangerous place. It was quite a while ago Euripides said: "Chance always fights on the side of the prudent."

Get Ready, Seriously ... www.safecastle.com

Still Need Mountain House Emergency Food?

The stampede for Mountain House emergency food (as well as other storage foods) over the last several weeks happened to coincide with our extraordinary March opportunity to get in on some special bulk buying at prices unseen in years.

Those of you who took advantage--thank you. You helped make our buy a stunning record-breaker no matter how you look at it.

Though we weren't the main problem in the mid-March depletion of Mountain House's emergency food, our volume was indicative of what was and is happening all over--people are preparing for the worst. As are government and corporate groups. H5N1 is a major risk on the horizon, and stocking up on storage food is one important step in starting to circle the wagons.

Still Taking Orders

Our very best pricing offerings in March were a limited time opportunity. But we continue to establish Safecastle LLC as the very best place to get your Mountain House food, at the best prices possible.

The need for storage food remains critical. If you are not where you want to be with your emergency food, and you'd like to get the best available freeze dried food out there--stuff that is officially rated at a 30-year shelf life ... contact me directly for the best prices.

See our current packages listed in our store. Note that, as Mountain House rebuilds inventory, our ordered varieties are shipping in stages over the next several weeks, with the latest foods produced and delivered by mid-May. (Not too bad, considering how things MIGHT get in the near future.)

Get Ready, Seriously ... www.safecastle.com

Last Week of Special Mountain House Deals

Only seven days left of the extraordinary opportunity to stock up on the best long-term storage food on the planet, at the best prices anywhere ... and with free shipping to the entire U.S.A.

I will not be able to repeat this offer in the future, so if you need emergency food, please consider this as the best chance you'll have. I have 150-can and 48-can packages to which you can make substitutions ... or you can custom-build your own bulk package.

Note that demand for this food is so high right now, last week Mountain House was wiped out of inventory in the #10 cans. That means our orders are now shipping in stages as the food is made available, with the last of the food in an order possibly shipping as late as mid-May.

To get the prices, email me at jcrefuge@safecastle.net

Payment must be received and cleared by noon, Central time, March 31 to qualify.

To check out the packages, see my store: www.safecastle.net

Being Buoyant in Stormy Seas

I woke up this morning to a mind-pic of three inflatable buoys bobbing around in frothy waves.

My immediate understanding was that those buoys were the proverbial "faith, hope, and love" holding me up through the churning realities of day-to-day life.

There is of course the obvious spiritual meaning of that choice biblical nugget that "these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
If you haven't embraced that truth as yet, I would encourage you to find the substantive meaning in that insight as it applies to your place in the universe. They are virtues that abide all.

Still, for many readers, another immediate and relevant context for these treasures can be had right here on the ground where we live today--in a modern life filled with difficulties and dangers. Yes, establish your relationship with your maker and cultivate it. But beyond that, so too, these virtues serve you well applied to developing your own self confidence, to your household and community relationships, and even applied to your preparedness activities.

Preparedness Delivers Peace

Along the same lines of the principle that has proven itself through history--that there is peace through strength--so too is there peace of mind to be had via personal readiness. That is, if you are reasonably equipped to deal with whatever life can throw your way, then you are going to be feel pretty good about your future.

In terms of my own preparedness and how I keep my head above water ...

Faith: I trust that God always provides for me as needed, and that He blesses my household accordingly. I also believe that He has steered us onto our present course and that we are well situated for events anticipated and unanticipated. It's a good feeling to be able to trust that we have done what is wise and reasonable.

Hope: With a Christian faith, we always have hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus. We also have hope in this life of coming out on top of any trials and tribulations, since we are given only that which we are capable of enduring. Being physically prepared bolsters our position of strength and allows us to extend a positive and beneficial outlook toward the future. It also permits us to be able to afford to cheerfully influence and impact the lives of others around us.

Love: "The greatest of these is love." Love God, love yourself, love your family and your neighbors. It's a powerful virtue--to be able to reach out and give of what you have and of who you are. I fail in that more often than I care to admit, but in terms of preparedness and being involved in the business, I can truthfully say that it is a labor of love ... a heartfelt effort to encourage others to find peace and buoyancy in a balanced, systematic approach to the future.

Tornado and Hurricane Seasons are Around the Corner

Depending on where you live, the weather forecast will be taking on new importance again soon.

Hurricanes, tornadoes, and strong storms with straight-line winds wil shred parts of America this year, as they do every year. One only needs to be in the crosshairs once or twice before you start to think that maybe there's a smarter way of dealing with mother nature.

Two years ago, after a couple of run-ins with tornadoes, I found the ideal prefabricated steel shelter to put underground beneath my new addition. It was strong, full-featured, and reasonably priced. I financed it into my home addition deal and we have had the most reassuring sense of well-being ever since.

In fact, after living with that peace of mind for a while, I decided I wanted to help bring that well being to others as well ... and I started working with my shelter builder to bring his best-in-class product into new markets. (We build the shelters to spec--these listings are just straightforward examples of what can be done--your project may be much smaller, cheaper, or even a lot larger--no problem--let us give you a quote.)

Backlog Season

This is the time of the year when people around the country start thinking seriously of building homes, additions, and even just putting in that much-needed storm shelter. Our builder has been doing his thing for almost a dozen years, with about 500 shelters installed all over the U.S., including many FEMA projects. His product is unsurpassed in safety and quality by anyone out there regardless of price.

If you're thinking this is the year you might finally get your own all-risk peace of mind, the time is now to get your homework done and get on our list. The list is growing as it always does this time of year.

Are the Good Old Days Gone Forever?

The future never turns out the way we envision. Back in the '60s, when I was in elementary school, the future was epitomized by "The Jetsons." Everything was going to be sleek, fast, and cool. Problems were going to be trivial compared to the technologies we would be able to bring to bear on them.

In the '70s, there were hints that in our future, the world was headed for globalization. The progressive idea was about eliminating international tensions and utilizing available resources to improve the average condition of all the world's people. Environmentalism was at the forefront in people's minds at this stage. Compassion was embraced as common sense.

In the '80s, technological advancements, to include the genesis of personal computing, started to actually shrink the gaps and spaces between the world's cultures. And it was of course the emerging global economy and the sudden demise of the Cold War mindset that threw popular perception of the future onto a whole other level.

The '90s saw geopolitical advances that tried to keep pace with the continuing techno-compression of the collage of global cultures. The corporatization of life everywhere seemed to be driving us toward a future that would eventually blur the boundaries between our differences. We would all one day get along because we would all be the same, watching, thinking, buying, eating, and believing the same things, wherever we happened to be on the earth. "Don't worry. Be Happy."

Then the long-anticipated new millenium and the false fear of Y2K chaos surely implied a bright and sunny future for all. No regrets, keep on stoking the global engines of progress as we understood them to mean. We think we can, we think we can ...

But then, we seemed to reach the end of the pavement. The bumps and potholes started to jostle us around and indeed we had to overhaul our collective view of the future because a small but menacing segment of the global population did not like where the future was taking us. Violence on innocence entered the equation.

The future suddenly was put on hold.

The war on terror, we are reminded continuously, will be a long-term struggle. The segment of radical Islam that is inexplicably growing its core base of adherents to wage war with a future of commercial and cultural pluralism is a large shadowy enemy that leaves few targets for our sophisticated political and military sensibilities.

But how much time do we have to adapt to the new reality? At stake is the future and the power to envision it. The enemy seeks to define what life and death on this planet should be about. How long before we come to grips with the dangerous intent and growing potential rolling toward our best laid plans?

It will take another major assault on our comfortably superior way of life ... probably one far worse than we care to even imagine today before we become willing to do what needs to be done. So we are allowing the enemy time ... essentially giving away this precious time to those who are investing it in creating an abominable future for all of us.

Weapon of Mass Hysteria

A good reminder for us that the dreaded "dirty bombs" that could one day soon be visited upon the west will not likely be nearly as dangerous as many seem to shriek.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395520314&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Mar. 2, 2006 10:54
Weapon of Mass Hysteria
By ERIK SCHECHTER

Around four years ago, a team of security professionals from a Washington think tank played a game of Let's Pretend. The group parked a yellow, 66-passenger school bus on Independence Avenue, on the National Capitol Mall, near an overhead rail line.

Congress was in session that morning; people were flocking to national monuments. The weather was also nice that day - sunny, warm, with low humidity - and there was a steady breeze blowing in from the southeast. All the necessary conditions were there.

The team from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) then imagined that their bus was packed with 4,000 pounds of TNT and a pound and a half of radioactive cesium-137. What would happen to Washington, DC, they wondered, if the bus went ka-boom?

Interestingly, most of the pretend casualties were caused by the regular old TNT and flying debris; the damage from the cesium was negligible by comparison. However, notes Phil Anderson, the man who headed the CSIS team, the fact that radiation was involved in the blast "had an enormous psychological impact on the public." The so-called dirty bomb proved to be a weapon of mass hysteria.

Radiation is "something unseen and mysterious for most people," says Ivan Oelrich, a nuclear physicist with the Federation of Atomic Scientists.

Even if the radiation levels are not particularly high, they will not return to their homes or places of business. Unfortunately, terrorists know this as well and while a nuclear weapon is beyond their grasp, radioactive materials are not. In fact, the modern world is filled with the stuff. ...

... Fortunately, even if al-Qaida or another terrorist group was to detonate a dirty bomb in a city and radioactive material would be dispersed over a wide area, it is unlikely that it would be enough to do any real harm.

"The so-called safety limits for radiation exposure are exceedingly conservative," explains Fred Singer, physicist and president of the Arlington-based Science and Environmental Policy Project. "You can exceed them by a factor of 10 or 100 and not suffer any damage."

In fact, a dangerous concentration of radiation would melt most containers - but try telling that to the public right after a non-conventional terrorist attack. Citizens would clamor for a very expensive clean-up, draining the public coffers; businesses would come to a halt.

So how does one overcome the fear?

"The answer is more education," Anderson insists.

So while others may be shrieking, you don't have to be freaking. Understand the threat and know your risks in a given attack before chucking your sanity in favor of bolting with the herd.

Mountain House Food Dealin'

So where have I been of late?

Well, fair reader, I've actually been toiling away at some real work. This happens to be a time when some cool new crisis-preparedness products are coming online, so I've been getting in synch with some of that. I'm also marching forward in building a new shelter-business thrust that is nothing short of exciting.

But in addition, there are plenty of folks around the country starting to emerge from their winter slumbers, thinking about how to get ready for what the warmer weather will bring, and so it's a welcome obligation to be responding to their needs.

Most significantly at this moment, I am scrambling to keep up with demand for a very special and unique discount program on Mountain House food. The discounts I'm offering up are significantly greater than what are reflected in my store (see: http://stores.ebay.com/REFUGE-offered-by-Safecastle-LLC_Mountain-House-Food_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ15QQftidZ2QQtZkm) and they are yours for the asking ... simply email me for details: jcrefuge@safecastle.net

I can't emphasize enough how significant this opportunity is--to include discounts AND FREE SHIPPING. Be advised, due to circumstances beyond my control, I can only offer this monster opportunity during the month of March.

By the way, for those who are unfamiliar with Mountain House--it is the premier freeze-dried food in the world. Campers, backpackers, outdoorspeople of all stripes swear by the easy to carry and prepare pouches of some absolutely delicious food.

For emergency preparedness, the #10 cans which store for 30-40 years (no, that's not a misprint), are the best insurance a household can have against lean times.

Consider yourself notified.

Growing Culture of Confrontation

A few days ago, I read an interesting and insightful essay entitled "Culture of Fear - Dealing with Cultural Panic Attacks," by Ronald Bailey. In the essay, he talks of Sociologist Frank Furedi's identified trends fueling the West's aversion to risk. One excerpt:

First, Furedi argued that there has been a shift in moral reaction to harm. People no longer believe in natural disasters or acts of God. Today, people suspect that someone is behind a disaster—an irresponsible corporation or a cowardly bureaucrat. Indeed, accidents don't happen anymore; they have been redefined as preventable injuries.

Furedi argued that many of us now assume that every negative experience has some inner meaning. For example, when a teenager dies in a car crash, grieving parents regularly tell television reporters, "There is lesson to be learned from Johnny's death." The lesson usually is not that bad things randomly happen to good people, but that our roads don't have enough guard rails, or that we should enact laws to prevent teenagers from driving with friends and so forth.

Furedi sees this kind of thinking as a return to pre-modern days of higher superstition, where every event has a deeper meaning. In the medieval era, the hand of God or the malevolent influence of Satan explained why people suffered misfortunes. Today the malevolent hand of government or corporate America is to blame for every catastrophe.

A second factor that Furedi sees contributing to our culture of risk aversion is that the nature of harms is represented in increasingly dramatic fashion. People are no longer expected to rise above adversity or encouraged to get on with their lives after they experience a hard knock. They are instead victims who are "scarred for life" and perpetually "haunted" by their misfortunes. Even the timescale of disaster has expanded. Anything that happens now produces consequences that you can never predict. Thus you have to be very careful about what you do today and worry about what might happen decades down the road. Treating people as permanent victims and constantly speculating about possible future harms is a recipe for social and economic paralysis.

It's really an excellent essay and seems to ring true in most regards. Certainly, a strong case for a safety-centric, risk-averse culture in America can be made coming from a number of different directions. I'll leave it to Bailey and Furedi to present that argument.

Culture of Confrontation

A perspective just as true, though seemingly at odds with the development of a risk-averse society, is one in which confrontation, animosity, and even violence is increasingly celebrated and treated as the basis for popular entertainment programs, not to mention news coverage, evolving political and business ethics, dwindling acceptable standards of juvenile behavior, and on and on.

Destructive criticism, confrontation, and exploding clashes between friends and foes all around the world are becoming the norm.

Civility and decency is increasingly viewed as being archaic and symptomatic of a weak character--a vulnerability. But I just refuse to understand or accept that. Not that I shrink away from a just fight, but for God's sake--what virtues do we fancy ourselves representing or carrying forward for our children's and our nation's future?

I'm not going into any more detail on this disintegration of values, as I am sure you know exactly what I'm talking about, and you need no further reminder from me on the sorry state of our collective identity these days. The trend is definitely downward, so it's hard to be optimistic that we can turn the corner on this anytime soon.

Consider It in Your Planning

The best way I can frame this without just letting my frustration all hang out ... try to use your understanding of the new reality in your planning and preparing.

Confrontational dynamics pervading our lives at all levels require mental and spiritual strength in the healthy individual today--that much should be clear. Keep that faith and balance in knowing that there IS a better way.

Yet, looking to the future, one must consider the possibility that we are headed for some dramatic outbreak of unrest and perhaps anarchy. It's happening within and between cultures all over the world today. The potential for it here in America seems to be simmering just below the surface, waiting to erupt unbidden if our enemies don't succeed in importing their own brand of societal disruption first.

What that means is you need to personally have some means of dealing with an increasingly violent and malevolent environment. If chaos breaks out for whatever reason in your neck of the woods, what will you do? Will you try to escape? Will you hunker down? Are you adequately armed to provide your household with some reasonable defense and/or deterrent from assault?

Think supplies and defensive strategies. Can you dig in and hold out for a length of time until the cavalry arrives? Do you have food, water, ammunition? Medications, first aid, trustworthy community bonds and support? How about such things as sandbags, body armor, and an adequately fortified shelter structure?

This IS the stuff of extremist dreams and nightmares for most others. But pay attention ... reality itself might be taking an extreme, sharp turn in the near future.

Interesting Essay - "The Coming of Deindustrial Society: A Practical Response"

Personally, the whole Peak Oil debate is on the periphery of my radar screen. I certainly accept that future energy demands vs. available resources is an issue of concern ... major concern, as time goes on. But I do cling to the notion that mankind and society will adapt to our changing environs and in fact we will continue to innovate brilliant solutions.

That is not to say, a lot of people won't feel pain along the way. After all, that IS the proven way of the human condition throughout history. Whether it is progress or regress, there is always a price paid by someone.

I came across a very interesting essay by John Michael Greer that is worthy of your time:
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/whatToDo/DeindustrialAge.htm

Some excerpts (bear in mind the author has some very strong views on the matter):

... it may be appealing to fantasize about vast government programs bailing us out of the present predicament, such fantasies are not a practical way of responding to the situation. We have to start with the recognition that the most likely outcome of the current situation is collapse: to borrow the Club of Rome's formulation, sustained, simultaneous, uncontrolled and irreversible declines in population, industrial production, and capital stock.

... Now as soon as this is said, most people who don't reject it out of hand slip off at once into apocalyptic ideas of one sort or another. These should be rejected; history is a better guide. Civilizations collapse. As Joseph Tainter pointed out in his useful book The Collapse of Complex Societies, it's one of the most predictable things about them. Ours is not that different from hundreds of previous civilizations that overshot their natural resource base and crashed to ruin. What we face is a natural process, and like most natural processes, much of it can be predicted by comparison with past situations.
But fantasy is often more palatable than reality, and most of the apocalyptic notions in circulation these days are sheer fantasy.

... the Hollywood notion of an overnight collapse is just as much of a fantasy; it makes for great screenplays but has nothing to do with the realities of how civilizations fall. The disintegration of a complex society takes decades, not days. Since fossil fuel production will decline gradually, not simply come to a screeching halt, the likely course of things is gradual descent rather than freefall. Civilizations go under in a rolling collapse punctuated by localized disasters, taking anything from one to four centuries to complete the process. It's not a steady decline, either; between sudden crises come intervals of relative stability, even moderate improvement; different regions decline at different paces; existing social, economic and political structures are replaced, not with complete chaos, but with transitional structures that may develop pretty fair institutional strength themselves.
Does this model apply to the current situation? Almost certainly. As oil and natural gas run short, economies will come unglued and political systems disintegrate under the strain. But there's still oil to be had - the Hubbert Curve is a bell-shaped curve, after all. The world in 2020 may still be producing about as much oil as it was producing in 1980. It's just that with other fossil fuels gone or badly depleted, nearly twice as many people in the world, and the global economy in shreds, the gap between production and demand will be vast. The result will be poverty, spiralling shortages, rising death rates, plummeting birth rates, and epidemic violence and warfare. Not a pretty picture - but it's not an instant reversion to the Stone Age either.
Equally imaginary is the notion that the best strategy for would-be survivors is to hole up in some isolated rural area with enough firepower to stock a Panzer division, and wait things out. I can think of no better proof that people nowadays pay no attention to history. One of the more common phenomena of collapse is the breakdown of public order in rural areas, and the rise of a brigand culture preying on rural communities and travelers. Isolated survivalist enclaves with stockpiles of food and ammunition would be a tempting prize and could count on being targeted.
Equally inaccurate is the notion that stockpiling precious metals will somehow make the stockpilers exempt from the consequences of industrial collapse. This strategy has been tried over and over again in recorded history, and it doesn't work. Every few years, for example, archeologists in Britain dig up another cache of gold and silver hidden away by some wealthy landowner in Roman Britain as the empire fell apart. They're usually close to the ruins of the owner's rural villa, which shows the signs of being looted and burned to the ground by the Saxons. As a working rule, if your value consists of what you've stockpiled, there will be an unlimited number of other people interested in removing you from the stockpile and enjoying it themselves. However many you kill, there will always be more - and eventually the ammo will run out.

... So what does work? The key to making sense of constructive action in a situation of impending industrial collapse is to look at the community, rather than the individual or society as a whole, as the basic unit. We know from history that local communities can continue to flourish while empires fall around them. There are, however, three things a community needs to do that, and all three of them are in short supply these days.
First, a community needs some degree of local organization. Our present culture here in America has discarded most of the local organizations it once had, in favor of a mass society where individuals deal directly with huge government and corporate institutions. This has to be reversed. The recent move to reinvigorate civil society is a step in the right direction. Joining or creating a local community group, and helping to revive local civil society, will help provide your community with voluntary networks of cooperation and mutual aid in difficult times.

... The second thing a community needs in the twilight of industrial society is a core of people who know how to do without fossil fuel inputs. An astonishing number of people, especially in the educated middle class, have no practical skills whatsoever when it comes to growing and preparing food, making clothing, and providing other basic necessities. An equally astonishing number are unable to go any distance at all by any means that doesn't involve burning fossil fuels - and almost no one in the developed world can light a fire without matches or a lighter from some distant factory. Survival skills such as organic gardening, low-tech medicine, basic hand crafts, and the like need to be learned and practiced now, while there's time to do so. Similarly, those people who cut their fossil fuel consumption drastically now - for example, by getting rid of their cars and using public transit or bicycles for commuting - will be better prepared for the inevitable shortages.

... Those people who can use their own hands and minds to make tools, grow food, brew beer, treat illnesses, generate modest amounts of electricity from sun and wind, and the like, will have a survival advantage over those who can't. In a violent age, practical knowledge is a life insurance policy; if you're more useful alive than dead, you're likely to stay that way. The pirate enclaves of the seventeenth-century Carribbean were among the most lawless societies in history, but physicians, navigators, shipwrights, and other skilled craftsmen were safe from the pervasive violence, since it was in everyone's best interests to keep them alive.

... The third thing a community needs is access to basic human requirements, and above all food. Very large cities are going to become difficult places to be in the course of the approaching collapse, precisely because there isn't enough farmland within easy transport range to feed the people now living there. On the other hand, most American cities of half a million or less are fairly close to agricultural land that could, in a pinch, be used to grow food intensively and feed the somewhat reduced population that's likely to be left after the first stages of the collapse. What's needed is the framework of a production and distribution system around which this can take shape.
The good news is that this framework already exists; it's called the farmers market movement. The last two decades have seen an astonishing growth in farmers markets across the country - the latest figures I've seen, and they're some years out of date, indicate that farmers markets are a $16 billion a year industry, with most of that money going to small local farmers. I personally know organic farmers who are able to stay in business, and support their families on quite small acreages, because they work the farmers markets. Every dollar spent on locally grown produce from a farmers market, instead of supermarket fare shipped halfway around the world, is thus an investment in local sustainability and survival.
There are a good many other, similar steps that can be taken. Anything that provides functional alternatives to energy-wasting lifestyles lays foundations for the transitional societies of the late 21st century, and ultimately for the sustainable successor cultures that will begin to emerge in North America in the 22nd and 23rd centuries. The important point, it seems to me, is to do something constructive now, rather than presenting plans to the government in the perfect knowledge that they will be ignored until it's far too late to do anything.

Ideology of Intolerance and Mass Destruction

At some point soon, Western leaders will have to drop the foolish insistence that the war we are engaged in is an ethereal long-term war on "terror." It is completely plain to see that, instead, our fate is to either endure or fall in a blunt-force clash of civilizations.

The aggressor in this mushrooming reality is an archaic religious ideology, Islam, founded in the 7th century by the prophet Muhammad. Attitudes instilled in its one billion followers demand their submission to the will of Allah. Religion and social or political realms are inseparable, and theological leaders hold tremendous power in their own proclamations, interpretations, and exhortations.

There are multiple Islamic theologies, but today, the most intolerant and violent forms are multiplying unchallenged globally, leading millions of Muslims headlong into direct confrontation with modern cultures of the "infidels."

Ideologies of Aggression

Iran's nuclear ambitions and their unabashed Islamic-justified desire to wipe Israel from the map are front and center in the world's consciousness today. So are the recurring and spreading riots in Europe and elsewhere arising out of Muslims being whipped into a frenzy over western cartoons that depict their holy prophet.

This of course does not even consider the longer-term realities of suicide terrorism and criminal aggression on innocent civilians throughout the world in the name of Allah and in opposition to America, Israel, and anything not endorsed in Islamic tradition.

The threat to our way of life from the passionate opposition and anger nourished in the Muslim world is unprecedented today and is fast reaching explosive levels. The Middle East, and Europe are the front lines today, but America, Indonesia, and Asia are also in the middle of the fight, and there is no neutral ground in this ideological war.

Lines drawn between combatants are not as much along international boundaries as they are along and among intermingled populations everywhere. To-date, few opposing cultures have been able to match the passion and fire of the most radical Muslim warriors. The West has long ago turned in its own motivating faith and moral value sets for soft, self-centered individualistic pursuits that are not only a focus of Islam's wrath, but also our own undoing in being able to mount a defense equal in reason and strength.

By denying the nature of our true enemy in this struggle and confronting our weaknesses in truthfulness, we will not have a chance of holding the line against the enemy.

How to Prepare

On a personal level, the question here is, what should we do?

If you are looking to prepare your family and household for a clash of civilizations, potential dangers that come to mind are almost too overwhelming to consider. But like with any other threat, taking it a piece at a time is probably the way to go. A very brief summary follows ...

First, this type of threat is as much about personal belief and philosophy as about physical survival. Start there by deciding where your most basic loyalties lie. Do you believe in God? Do you pray for guidance in your day to day activities? Do you feel a bond with others in your community and nation? Are you and your family your first and only priority? The questions would be many and only you can create the necessary definition for your philosophical foundation. I suggest devoting time to this now and then building on your answers going forward.

With that understanding established, you might consider that a full-blown lifestyle-threatening clash of civilizations will have obvious impact on the lives of your family. Hardships and challenges may take the form of economic downturns, supply shortages, emotional difficulty and confusion, community strife, and possibly local violence that could take a toll right where you live.

Assuming you are spiritually grounded in your faith, I might suggest that your next important steps to take would be to ensure that your household security against reasonably expected aggression is in place. That can mean a lot of different things, such as hardened shelters, air filtration, employment of your legal right to arm yourself and provide for your own self-defense, home security systems, watchdogs, and on and on. What we are talking about in this regard is as much about peace of mind as anything else.

Last, as with most any other threat we try to prepare for, we want to have in place the ability to provide for the needs of our family for at least a short-term period without having to leave our home. For this threat, stocking up on food, water, medical needs, and supplies for a longer period of time would seem to be prudent--perhaps at least a month's worth, and as much as a year or more. And don't forget to prepare to engage in an economy potentially lacking in the ability to process credit cards or checks for a time in the event basic infrastructure is compromised.

No Limits

Ideologies today know no geographic boundaries. And some ideologies know no limits or fears in terms of their attempts to achieve their goals.

Now is the time to come to grips with that and to start establishing your own personal resolve to do what may become necessary in a world going mad.

New Logo, More New Products, Same Focus ... Your Needs are Our Needs

Been pretty busy lately, and I don't expect things will slow down much anytime soon. We're building the Safecastle business brick by brick, customer by customer and product by product. Our number one priority is to make sure our customers are 100% satisfied. If we can continue to deliver on that, the business will take care of itself.

Our flagship product line is the best-in-class prefab steel NBC shelters, storm shelters, and saferooms that are protecting thousands around the country. We are moving ahead with plans to systematically take this business to the masses.

The time is right for personal security and unparallelled peace of mind as offered in our shelters to go mainstream. It'll be a slow process, but with time, we think America will once again embrace civil defense--on a personal level.

A promising art student helped us out with the new logo ... what thinkest thou, fair readers?

Be sure to check us out regularly for the latest new gear you just might need someday: www.safecastle.com

Study: Bird Flu Biggest Current Worry

Some snippets from a summary article on the "Global Risks 2006" report ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060126/ap_on_re_eu/world_forum_global_risks_1

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 26, 5:43 PM ET

DAVOS, Switzerland - The global threat that most preoccupies the world's business leaders is the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, according to a study released Thursday at the
World Economic Forum.

Other global risks, such as terrorist attacks and the possibility of an even bigger oil price shock, were deemed just as dangerous, but less likely to happen in the coming year, said the "Global Risks 2006" report ...

... "If the avian flu H5N1 virus mutates to enable human-to-human transmission, it may disrupt our global society and economy in an unprecedented way," said the 22-page risk study, which was released by a panel of companies and experts.

While the report predicted a number of small-scale terrorist attacks in 2006, it said large-scale simultaneous attacks were less likely, primarily because the capability of terrorists to coordinate their activities had diminished. ...

... "Terrorist attacks involving aircraft and high explosives have already had a massive global impact," the study said, but added, "The capacity of terrorist organizations to act globally in a coordinated way has diminished."

The risk of a major attack will rise in coming years, however, it said.

The report warned of other possible severe shocks, such as an oil price spike to $100 a barrel or an earthquake hitting Tokyo, but said those risks had a low likelihood of occurring.

"The world suffered an oil-price spike above $70 in 2005," the study said. "The world's reliance on hydrocarbons and growing concerns about the geopolitics of supply mean that oil prices will inevitably be an issue of concern in 2006 and beyond."

But even if oil prices should rise above $100, it is "relatively unlikely" that they would remain so high for an extended period, it said. ...

... The Forum study was based primarily on contributions from Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., Merrill Lynch and Swiss Reinsurance Co. and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Nabarro: "The moment the pandemic starts it's too late to get prepared"

No reason to panic, but certainly, folks should have this front and center on their radar screens if they are preparedness oriented.

Excerpt from ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060124/hl_afp/healthfluun_060124182621

World must act as if flu pandemic imminent: UN official

GENEVA (AFP) - The world must brace for a human influenza pandemic, acting as if it will strike "tomorrow," the UN official preparing the battle said.

Many people appeared to be under the impression that they would have time to prepare for the widely feared pandemic but that was wrongheaded, said Dr. David Nabarro.

"It's very hard to get people prepared for something that is as uncertain and unclear as this problem," Nabarro told reporters.

"So many people, when I talk to them about getting prepared, seem to imply that we've got months in which to get prepared but I say to them: 'It may not be months.'

"It could be that we're going to get human-to-human transmission tomorrow so please act as though it's going to start tomorrow. Dont keep putting off the difficult issues'."

The H5N1 bird flu virus has affected poultry flocks in the Far East and Turkey, and has claimed some 80 human lives after spreading from birds to people.

But experts fear the virus could mutate almost overnight and unobserved into a new form that would spread easily between humans and spark a repeat of the global influenza pandemics that killed tens of millions of people in the past century.

"There is a sensation for all of us who are working on this of standing on the edge of a really deep precipice and not knowing how far we're going to fall," said Nabarro.

"The moment the pandemic starts it's too late to get prepared." ...

Reserve Your Sense of Urgency for When It's Required

Preparedness, by nature, is about anticipating (and getting ready for) significant trials and challenges. So it's no surprise when those of us who choose to incorporate crisis planning into our lives occasionally become wrapped up in ominous threats that seem to be barreling down on us ... though their actual position and course over the horizon is much more remote than what we believe.

Put another way, there are many who, after investing some time and money into being prepared for whatever may come, actually start to overextend themselves in finding daily justification for their preparedness activities. And taken to the extreme, they even start to hope for realized doom and gloom.

Is that a problem? Well, I say that yes, it can be a problem when the quest for new urgent scenarios becomes all-consuming and balance is lost in being able to actually comprehend the more benign side of our reality equation.

"Fear Du Jour" Planted by the Media

The media sells advertising and product by trying to connect emotionally with an audience. The only way to do that with many today is via fear and violence. Thus, among all the other ramifications of that, the news media must regularly come up with scary and appalling stories--"potential" stories will do when reality falls short--but they must be made "real" if they are to touch a nerve.

So we of course, are extremely well informed today about every bad turn our world takes and could possibly take, and some of us lose a grip on the probabilites for a relatively non-eventful future vs. the various long odds out there for any of those pumped-up worst-case scenarios to actually come a calling.

As the World Turns

My point--that every single day of my life, I would bet the mortgage on the fact that the sun will rise and fall as it always does for almost all of us on the planet. Most of our lives will probably be lived out in relative peace and tranquility, and few of us will ever be seriously challenged to survive in unusual fashion by a calamity. (No, I do not at all minimize the threat of war or great disasters, and I am ready, but those threats must remain in context of the world as it is at the moment if one wants to have a healthy life reflecting some level of normalcy.)

Understanding the odds allows me to keep on keeping on with my day-to-day existence. Enjoying it. Appreciating it.

If you can keep your approach to preparedness in balance, preparing for possibilities, but not becoming consumed by them, then you'll actually be best situated for not only your day to day life, but also for any eventuality that might arise.

That is because your easy mental stance will allow you to recognize and react when a threat actually materializes as being imminent. Believe me, swinging and missing over and over again does no good in helping you to connect when the game is on the line.

Nyquist Lays Out Fundamental Flaws that Make Us Vulnerable

Last essential dose of J.R. Nyquist for now ...

- "Since authority has broken down, personality takes its place."

- "The 'last man' is led by peer group pressures. He always compromises and retreats. He expertly maintains the lies put into his custody and congratulates himself on being 'practical.' As a coward and subjectivist, he secretly thrills to the notion that truth doesn't anywhere exist and that if it did exist it would remain forever unknowable."

- "American culture is 'economic' in nature. Our system of government was organized so that economic activity, perhaps at the expense of other activities, might thrive. This was a proper orientation for a developing frontier society where life was at first primitive, harsh, and unsettled. But somehow we never managed to evolve beyond these humble beginnings; and as we grew in affluence, we retained our economic fixation, failing to open up other cultural horizons. Today the growth of the economy has become the end-all and be-all. Even our basic view of man is tainted by economism. What defines us now, more than anything else, is our continuing reduction of everything to economics, which we imagine is an entirely rational thing to do. We talk in terms of supply and demand, but we forget that demand is a mystical thing, with its roots going down into the soul.

"Our economism also leads us to forget that there are human crises outside the locus of mutual profitability, in which one man's gain is amother man's loss (i.e., as the fundamental social problem). Question marks seem to mount. Can economics swallow art, religion, and politics without digestive calamity? Does the multiplication of wants through commercial advertising bring us happiness or have we merely reestablished misery by other means? What happens to the virtues of self-denial and self-control under a regime that sustains itself by breaking these virtues down and by cultivating (especially through television) a regime of self-indulgence?"

- "When 'success' became a measure of moral worth in our society, the 'honest poor' had no leg of self-esteem on which to stand. And this is the origin of our modern rabble."

More from Nyquist's "Origins of the Fourth World War"

More Chapter One excerpts from J.R. Nyquist's must-read "Origins of the Fourth World War" ...

- "Moral relativism begins with the premise that there isn't any truth. But is this really true?"

- "Today, there is no interest in conversing with one's neighbors; diversity hemmed-in and foredoomed; a flurry of unneeded face-lifts, butt-lifts, nose jobs, cheek implants, youthful images, diets, suctions, fastings, and purgings--the world falsified according to the rules of sex-appeal. This makes for a new society and a new escapism: an escapism detached from the religious impulses of old; an escapism by way of lowest common denominators. Ergo, an increase in sloth and fat; an increase in reactivity versus activity; a weakening of the moral muscle; a decline in originality coinciding with a thirst for novelty. Mind-set? Jaded. A need arises for the bizarre, the sick, the increasingly hysterical and emotional. We have come to expect a presentation of the world better than the world: more interesting, intense, and engaging--which leads to entertainment instead of church as the path to paradise; eclipsing the whole of real existence, even to the point of undercutting the human imagination. Enter television."

- "The essence of our society's connecting fabric is an idiot box. Type of shows? Comedy and drama; especially drama with 'happy' endings, non-tragic, without any sense of the inevitable--therefore, no sociological sense either. We now have an entire nation with the same vocabulary of vicarious experiences, with the same unrealistic expectations. Emphasis is on images rather than concepts; therefore, a lessening of mental agility; a shrinking of our vocabulary; the end of eloquence; a decline in reading; also an increased tendency to characterize one's adversary as evil; violence, terror, bloodshed as a stimulant suggestive of a 'snuff' movie."

- "War without loss is an immorality. That we have imagined otherwise merely demonstrates that our thinking has become inverted."

- "Today, as never before, the pariah is the only man with the chance to think for himself. Everyone else is relentlessly compelled by peer pressures. Everyone constantly blackmails everyone. The threat of ostracism easily molds the soft democratic soul into fashionable shapes.

- "The out-of-fashion individual, the outcast (perhaps the only real human being remaining) eats out of some dumpster on the edge of town."

- "Our law-abiding citizen of today--not moral, but tame, domesticated, lazy, comfortable."

- "The most commonplace psychiatric pathology of the last twenty-five years is something called 'character disorder.' This is merely another way of talking about moral decline without using the word morality."

Still a bit more next time.

"Safecastle & Son"

Just wanted to share a photo of a couple of hard-working guys in their new, personalized (note the monogrammed sleeves) Safecastle sweatshirts.