New Mexico Urban Homesteader

Hello, I am A 50 Something, Prepper ;-}; former 60's Flower Child, don't believe in taxpayer subsidized special interest groups (political parties), DO believe in the Constitution and Bill of Rights (1st 10). Long time Independent & Informed Voter. Lover of the outdoors and firm believer that History Teaches - if only we will listen!

(No longer Urban or in NM. Now Rural in the mountains of Maine.)

This blog was started at the request of some dear friends that wish to become Preppers.

“No man who is not willing to help himself has any right to apply to his friends, or to the gods.”

Demosthenes (384–322 BC, Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens)


Sunday, July 22, 2012

Flies Create Garbage the same as Guns Create Crime

“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it.”
William Burroughs, 1992

With the movie theater shooting in Aurora, CO, I can see the battle lines being drawn.  The news is quick to point out that the shooter purchased his firearms and 100 round magazine legally and some items from the internet.  Yet the media is not talking about all the people who are injured and are killed each year by vehicles and many from ‘under the influence’ drivers. 

“The philosophy of gun control: Teenagers are roaring through town at 90MPH, where the speed limit is 25.
Your solution is to lower the speed limit to 20.”
Sam Cohen
(inventor of the neutron bomb)

Fact is more US citizens perish and get injured each year via vehicles than firearms;  many, many more die from heart attacks than vehicles or firearms.

The data from the 1990 Harvard Medical Practice Study suggest that 150,000 Americans die every year from doctors' negligence -- compared with 38,000 gun deaths annually. Why are doctors not declared a public health menace? Because they save more lives than they take. And so it is with guns. Every year, good Americans use guns about 2.5 million times to protect themselves and their families, which means 65 lives are protected by guns for every life lost to a gun.
Dr. Edgar Suter,
San Francisco Chronicle, 7/12/94, Opinion (p. A17)

“When I began my research on guns in 1976, like most academics, I was a believer in the 'antigun' thesis. ... It seemed then like self-evident common sense which hardly needed to be empirically tested. ... [But] the best currently available evidence, imperfect though it is (and must always be), indicates that general gun availability has no measurable net positive effect on rates of homicide, suicide, robbery, assault, rape, or burglary in the U.S. ... Further, when victims have guns, it is less likely aggressors will attack or injure them and less likely they will lose property in a robbery. ... The positive associations often found between aggregate levels of violence and gun ownership appear to be primarily due to violence increasing gun ownership, rather than the reverse.”
Gary Kleck,
Prof. Florida State Univ, Sch of Criminology from a speech given to the Nat'l Academy of Sciences, 1991, as reported by Don B. Kates, Jr. in "Shot Down", National Review, March 6, 1995, pages 49-54.

“Since police started keeping statistics, we now know that assault weapons are/were used in an underwhelming 0.026 of 1% of crimes in New Jersey. This means that my officers are more likely to confront an escaped tiger from the local zoo than to confront an assault rifle in the hands of a drug-crazed killer on the streets.”
Joseph Constance
(deputy chief of Trenton NJ police dept) in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Aug 1993


Our Constitution and Bill of Rights grants each US citizen the right and freedom of CHOICE and the opportunity to pursue happiness. 

"Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars."
Anonymous

As a result I will fight staunchly against any law that says every citizen must own a firearm, as I will against any law that says we citizens cannot own a firearm!

“Both the oligarch and Tyrant mistrust the people,
and therefore deprive them of arms.”
Aristotle

I only ask for the freedom of choice.  You let me have mine, and I will let you have yours; and neither of us will force a decision on the other.

“You may not like guns, and choose not to own one. That is your right. You might not believe in God. That is your choice. However, if someone breaks into your home the first two things you’re going to do are:
1) Call someone with a gun. 2) Pray they get there in time.”
Anonymous

A firearm is nothing but a tool to the criminal and a criminal will always find the tools they need to commit their crime. If you want to address crime you must get the criminal!


Fact:  NO Law, NO Dictate, NO Mandate, NO Legislation, NO Treaty, NO Act, NO Directive, NO Order HAS PREVENTED A CRIME!  How so?  Think Prohibition, it was an attempt to reduce/eliminate alcohol abuse, yet it didn’t.  In fact there was more ‘crime’ and abuse during Prohibition than before or after it!

In a perfect world, you wouldn't need guns. This is not a perfect world.
Ben Johnson
Sheriff  Volusia County, Florida, assumed office January 2, 2001; Re-elected in 2004 and  2008

The citizens of the United States are not immune to tyranny from our own government and never have been.  Our early and current history shows this to be a long running battle to stay free and independent, with a government ‘Of the people, by the people, for the people’.  

In the beginning there was the ‘shot heard round the world’ on April 19, 1775 at a bridge between Lexington and Concord where the British were out to confiscate colonial citizens of their firearms. 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The American lust for the freedom of choice has been with us from the beginning.  This freedom is at the root of all of our freedoms and rights.  Take this one freedom away and you have destroyed all the rest. 

Bottom Line:  This is not about politics, Dems or Reps UN treaties, or even Crime Control - this is about the Republic of the United States of America, its Constitution and Bill of Rights – It’s about the Freedom of Choice – Period!


Owning a firearm or not is my choice and my responsibility – not the governments.  So leave my 2nd Amendment alone and live your life by your choice so I can live my life by my choice.

FACT:  If you want to reduce crime, put and keep the criminals in prison!

To get more information on U.S. 'gun control' history and a list of current bills and UN treaties read on @ http://www.scribd.com/doc/100766842/Flies-Create-Garbage-the-Same-as-Guns-Create-Crime 

TNT

Now they’re tryin’ to take my guns away
And that would be just fine
If you take ‘em away from the criminals first
I’d gladly give you mine
Charlie Daniels Band, A Few More Rednecks

 Test your knowledge on where you can and can't carry concealed weapons in the United States and other facts about guns.

- Scott Armstrong, Christian Science Monitor Staff writer at http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/0313/Gun-laws-How-much-do-you-know/Gun-paper

1. How many people in the US have permits to carry concealed handguns?

1 million
6 million
50 million
100 million

2. How many states have laws that require authorities to issue concealed weapons permits to anyone who meets the proper qualifications?

10
25
40  
42

3. What state recently passed a law allowing permit holders to carry concealed weapons into the State House?

Texas
New Hampshire
Nevada
Georgia

4. What state recently voted to allow people who take an extra gun safety class to carry concealed weapons on college campuses and in courthouses?

Mississippi
Vermont
Georgia
Montana

5. North Carolina recently passed a law that allows permit holders to carry concealed weapons in:

Public high schools
Restaurants
Town parks  
Municipal government buildings

6. A federal ban an assault weapons was:

Never passed
Passed in 1994, but expired in 2004  
Passed in 1994 and remains in effect today
Passed in 1998, but expired in 2008

7. What US Supreme Court ruling in 2010 buttressed the rights of gun owners?

McDonalds v. Wendy's
McDonalds v. Remington
McDonald v. Chicago  
George v. Thomas

8. What US president signed legislation allowing people to carry concealed guns in national parks for the first time?

Richard Nixon
George H.W. Bush
George W. Bush
Barack Obama  

9. The one state that prohibits private citizens from carrying handguns in public is:

Massachusetts
Illinois  
Colorada
California

10. One big ammunition manufacturer is selling a line of shotgun shells and rifle cartridges that play off a popular cultural reference. What is the line called?

Max Hedroom
Mad Max
Zombie Max  
Maximus



How much do you know about the Second Amendment?   After decades of inactivity, the US Supreme Court in 2008 began a major reexamination of the scope of the right to keep and bear arms, an issue that has long ignited passionate debate and prompted powerful political lobbying. How well do you understand this constitutional evolution? Take our quiz to test your knowledge.  http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/1104/Second-Amendment-Quiz/Topic-of-Second-Amendment

A Tyrant's Worst Nightmare: A Citizen with a Gun  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7O98q6wBvs


"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."
Samuel Adams

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Facts of Life & Preparedness



We humans tend to get easily side-tracked from what we ‘plan’ to do.  There are many factors that contribute to this from mass marketing and advertising, to rationalizing, just plain old excuse making and ‘life’ in general.  Yet one factor that often affects how well we stick to any plan is the most basic and simple of them all – We forget about what a human body needs to survive. Or more simply we ignore the vary basics that a human body needs, the bottom line.  Even ‘experts’ like Maslow, have identified this simple fact of life.

What happens to too many of us when we ask ourselves this basic question is we get all hung up on the touchy-feely side of things that mostly concern our mental and spiritual health or our ‘feel good’ mentality. 

Yes, these things are important and in my book, very important!  However the bottom line is that without our human body we are dead, pure and simple and if we are dead we cannot even begin to address these other factors, yet alone the more frivolous wants and desires.

•    Without oxygen rich air to breath we perish in about 4 minutes.
•    Without water to hydrate our bodies we expire in about 4 days.
•    Without nutritional food we die in about 4 weeks.
•    Without protection from the elements we can die between hours, to up to 4 weeks.

So any good preparedness plan will need to put the bulk of our time, energy and monies towards these four needs above addressing anything else.  The next bulk of time, energy and monies should be put to our psychological and spiritual needs.  Lastly, if at all, we go after our wants and desires.

Now many people will stick Medical and Dental needs immediately after our physical needs and then go on to the psychological and spiritual needs.  Whatever meets YOUR specific overall requirements on this subject should be your rule of thumb.  Nothing is set in stone here.

Funny, but this simple prioritizing rule is fantastic for just about all our other aspects of life, preparedness or not.  After all we are not some government that can just print the monies we need and grab laborers off the street to do the work, nor do we have some magic wand to create more than 24 hours in a day.  We only have ourselves, our families and maybe a few close neighbors and friends – and you can bet your last dollar that most of them will not act as a bank or laborer for us!

So how exactly does this apply to preparedness? 

Read on to find out!

Above all remember that life contains all kinds of tangible and un-tangible aspects, some are necessary, most are not and all require a thought process that identifies and prioritizes them.

TNT

"Emergency preparedness is a team sport.“
Eric Whitaker

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

July 4 - Independence Day






As we get ready to have our picnics, BBQ’s, parties and fireworks we should also take the time to reflect back to July 4, 1776.  We were not a country yet, we were just 13 British Colonies under the strict rule of King George III.

The American Colonists were a proud and independent lot, who had carved out towns, farms and businesses in this ‘new land’ with the freedom to worship as chose (or chose not to), without any interference from the Crown.

Meanwhile, the British Empire was looking to collect goods and funds from all of its colonies to finance its own goals, no matter what the cost to any of its subjects.

Here in the American Colonies, we choose to stand against this onslaught of self-serving rules, regulations, taxes, fines and fees … A few brave souls organized against the Crown and what was the largest and strongest military of the time.

These people had stiff competition, as some colonists did not wish to be independent of the Crown and were willing to slave away to keep all of the Crown’s so-called ‘perks’.  The American colonists knew that if they declared their independence that they would be charged with treason and put to death as traitors.

Yet they met and did so anyway and because of that we are here today as the Republic of the United States of American.  Comprised of independent, sovereign states with the freedom and liberties to worship, make money, speak, read and just plain live (pursuit of happiness) as we please without fear.

So on this July 4, instead of just stuffing our faces and sloshing drink, let’s thank these brave and persistent souls for our country, with its freedoms and liberties.  For without them, we would be nothing.

As you review the Declaration of Independence below, remember that the authors of our most sacred documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights) wrote these documents NOT for the lawyers, solicitors, politicians or educated few, but for the common people of the masses.

To read the Declaration of Independence and the American's Creed follow this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/99038379/July-4-Independence-Day

Also see: Can You Pass the US Nationalization Test-History of US Citizanship & Nationalization http://www.scribd.com/doc/98913598/Can-You-Pass-the-US-Nationalization-Test-History-of-US-Citizanship-Nationalization

TNT