Jewish Preppers

Barbed Wire Bracelets : Pupacino Post....For Livin

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Mon, 02 May 2016 12:05:00 +0000

Barbed Wire Bracelets : Pupacino Post....For Livin: On our way to Tennessee, once out of California we did not see a Starbucks until we hit Arkansas...I was shocked to say the least. I...

Makes me recall my earlier days in Seattle. I would take my dog for a walk to the local barrista (Starbucks hadne taken over the world back then), get a mocha without whipcream and walk home. The barrista got my order wrong, and added the whip. Perhaps distracted by the Harley gang of individuals who all dressed alike pulling in.

There was no way I could get past the heaping whip cream. I sat down, tilted the cup to my dog, and watched her as she lapped up the whip. I would take a sip as she made room, then tilt it back to her as the mound melted and filled in surface. Problem solved as I hate carbs (they make me crash in about 20 minutes). Well, I looked up to see see several lawyers, err, Harley Men, looking really grossed out and 1 or 2 retching a bit. Looked like mouth-vomit from where I was relaxing.

Hell, who hasnt had a bit (or more) of inadvetrtant dog spit in their mouth? I gave up long ago to make pretend otherwise. Still have that dog, but she's a bit slower - not going to catch any more jackrabbits during her 'retirement' - and I owe her. She tried to warn me away from my ex-wife when we were dating. Should have listened....

Anyway seeing a pup slurping away brought back some great memories. Thanks.

noreply@blogger.com (Survivor) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:29:00 +0000

THIS BLOG IS NO LONGER BEING MAINTAINED AT BLOGSPOT! PLEASE VISIT US AT: JEWISHPREPPERS.COM SEE YOU THERE!

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:35:00 +0000

Oy Vey.

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:50:00 +0000

This is why I've been in a funk and wondering what living off nuts and berries some Spring will be like.

From Gates of Vienna.... part of a much larger piece describing the cultural suicide the West is committing. This is most of the Jewicidal part. Read the whole thing.

Gates of Vienna: The Bee and the Lamb, Part 8

At some higher level, the insanity is so stark that questions are redundant. Consider American Jews. The smartest segment of the population, with a mean IQ almost a full standard deviation above that of non-Jewish whites, chock-full of professors, doctors, lawyers, judges, Nobel prize winners, mathematicians and hedge fund wizards. Voted 78% for Obama in 2008 — the highest of any demographic segment but the Blacks. The Blacks were voting rationally, for their pocketbook and racial pride. But the Jews, what were they voting for?

Repeated polls indicate that 65% of America’s Jews are set to vote for Obama, again. Jewish donors and bundlers have been of such key importance to BHO that if Manhattan’s Westside and the best zip codes in the Los Angeles area suffer a major power failure, the Obama 2012 machine may come to a standstill. Simultaneously, these Jewish supporters feel passionately about Israel, are active in pro-Israeli causes, and are forever on guard against antisemitism. And their messiah (small m) has a few more things on his presidential résumé that ought to be of concern to Jews, above and beyond his record of achievements iterated above. For instance:

Associated in Chicago with known Muslim sponsors of Muslim terrorist organizations? Check. Appointed Susan Rice, a clear and present foe of Israel and a clueless fool otherwise, to the post of US Ambassador to the United Nations? Check. Tight with Center for American Progress — a disseminator of anti-Israel, antisemitic content whose three key officers have held key positions in the BHO administration? Check. Excluded Israel, the world’s premier victim of terrorism, from a counter-terrorism forum in Spain? Check. Sent a Muslim terrorism apologist and Israel-basher to represent the United States at a human rights conference in Warsaw? Check. Presented Saudi Arabia’s ideas for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement as America’s position? Check. Went to see Whoopi Goldberg when Bibi Netanyahu asked to talk about Holocaust II? Check.

The complete list could fill pages. Yet the Jewish Council for Education and Research, having spent a bundle in 2007 on videos urging Jews to vote for Obama, is doing so again. Its website presents a banner picture of Mr. Hussein in a heroic pose in front of the American and Israeli flags, and urges Jews via a provocative video with Samuel Jackson to “wake up” and vote for the greatest enabler of worldwide jihad and Jew hatred that the American presidency has ever known.

Blacks have at least an honest rationality in service to self-interest. The American hip hop plutocrat known as Jay-Z says simply that he supports Obama because Obama is black and has a “vision.” It’s a Black Lootist-Revanchist vision and Mr. Z, a shrewd businessman, should know better — but tribe comes first, except for white fools. At the other end of the economic scale, this black woman says she supports Obama because “He gave us a phone, he gonna do more.”

It’s not what America’s founders had in mind and it does not reflect the Anglo-Saxon concept of civic society. But at least it’s not insane and contemptible.

How about the gathering at the Islamic Center of Southern California, where “leaders from several faith communities” spoke about “shattering stereotypes”? We have here Judith Levy, the female rabbi of the Malibu Jewish Synagogue (serves quite the Who’s Who of “Hollywood”) blowing a ram’s horn with passion, just before a gentleman named Jihad Turk explains the Religion of Peace and a white convert to Sikhism with all the exotic accoutrements asserts that unity in diversity is what makes America great. I haven’t laughed this hard since that earlier multicultural Malibu party, the one with Peter Sellers.

But how much of this will change in a Romney victory? The head of the snake isn't quite decapitated as much as transplanted, and if the body is full of rot ....

First Aid kits

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 17:46:00 +0000

There are first aid kits and FIRST AID kits. The former are suitable for little boo boos and the like and they’re OK in the current milieu where having the opportunity of actually going to an Emergency Department and have that gash sutured closed under sterile conditions, get an XRay, a tetanus shot and fill the Rx at a nearby pharmacy is taken for granted. These are easily found from brick and mortar stores to on-line merchants. What I need and continue to develop is a First Aid kit that will be useful when professional care is not available.

There are a few “levels” of kits I keep in mind, paying attention to likely injuries and weight penalty. I have not figured it out, but redundancy is actually helpful despite the weight penalty.

The kits are in molle pouches to allow them to be attached to different bags, tactical vest or tossed in the car. Like a pistol, it does you no good if it’s not readily available.

The ‘lightest” kit I have is a small molle bag on the top of my BOB. It is my most easily accessible kit has stuff for ‘boo boo’s’ that I expect to encounter while walking. It has bandaids, neosporin-like goop, and the usual mundane stuff for little boo boos. But it does have some extras. I packed some moleskin because, well, blisters happen when you’re humping a bag that weighs too much! It also has a few tubes of Superglue - I don’t know if “Bonds skin instantly” is a warning label or directions. Excellent stuff for smaller clean-edged lacerations. Even large ones in some circumstances. Some steri strips (the modern version of ‘butterfly’ closures. The kit is easy to get to to minimize the odds a small cut will get infected, culminating in septicemia (infection in the blood stream and you’re a dead man walking unless you get some serious antibiotics). If it wasn’t easily accessed, it would go unused, and that blister, scrape or whatever would go untreated (or under-treated) and risk escalating into a real medical problem. A stitch in time sort of thing.

My medium size kit, in a pouch on the outside of my BOB, skips supplies for the small stuff and is for serious wounds. A few Israeli bandages (look them up and buy a few), a few bags of Celox (a powder that stops bleeding -even from an artery), some tampons (sprinkle on the Celox and push it in the penetrating wound - as in bullet wound), some more steri strips, a pair of CAT’s (Combat Applied Tourniquet - one should be attached to you MBR (Main Battle Rifle), some sterile 4 X 4’s, a few sutures, Coban wrap, trauma scissors, a pair of space blankets (actually space sleeping bags) for someone in shock, a high volume water filer (1 micron) to hydrate and wash wounds with unsterile but clean as I can get it water, a bottle of betadine and some neosporin goop. I don’t have the space to pack splints and the like, and will need to resort to tree branches. Lots of available tree branches where I am.

I’m (too) slowly working on a larger kit which has the above and a bunch of surgical tools (more scapels/blades, hemostats, needle holders, some small retractors). It is a work in progress and will be stored at the Refuge.

I have yet to figure out is the amount of supplies to carry. Believe me, the number of bandages, wraps, and the like that is normally used in a single trauma is already far more than I’m carrying. Getting wounded or injured in field conditions will be very bad and likely life-threatening at the very least. With these First Aid kits, I hope to minimize odds that small injuries become large ones.

For me, one of the saddest thing is that if the balloon does go up, there’s a possibility that we will devolve back to medicine at the level of the Civil War - no antibiotics, no IV hydration let alone transfusions, anesthesia limited to alcohol... at least the meme of bacteria and sterility may survive for awhile. Where a simple splinter can lead to death, and bronchitis and pneumonia will be once again deadly.

So the necessities you should look for:

Israeli bandages (CountyComm.com often has a good price). Theses are made to place a nice wad of gauze on a wound and then wrap the ACE bandage like arms around to create a pressure dressing to minimize blood loss. Easy to use. Packs OK and is light. Use with Celox!

Celox (clotting agent) available in powder form and also bandages impregnated with it. It stops bleeding, even arterial bleeds. Yeah, it saves lives.

Tampons (many more uses for them like starting a fire). Got a penetrating wound that’s hard to get pressure on? Grab some of these and jam them down the wound track. Get some Celox on them first if you can.

Coban wrap - used from holding a bandage on to wrapping a sprained joint to stabilizing a splint. 1001 uses. Gets some.

CAT (tourniquets). Do I need to state the obvious?

Betadine - a large weight penalty but great stuff. Better shelf life than hydrogen peroxide.

These items are good to have - if you don’t know to use them, someone else might.

Some training on first aid is good, but for most, will always be on the ‘to do’ list. Do be one of them.

Legal disclaimer - the usual- this is not medical advice. Get trained up before using any more advanced than a band aid. We’re talking about first aid when there are no other alternatives.

Side notes -- Looks like Costa Rica is going to default very soon. Soros is buying gold and every day that passes, the likelihood of an Israeli-Iran (Israeli-moslem brotherhood??) war increases towards certainty, corn harvest devastation already having ripple effect in the world .... Oy vey!

Correction: Ooops, not Costa Rica, but Belize.... [21 Aug 2012]

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 23:20:00 +0000

Daniel hits another home run, or better, a bullseye in his Monday column. Please read it.

He writes, “The rivers of tears keep flowing and, while Israeli spokesmen can list in detail every single casualty, tears don't protect against murder. Neither do peace treaties. No amount of tears stopped the murder of Six Million Jews, convinced the British Foreign Ministry to allow Jews fleeing the Nazis into Israel or the State Department to allow them into the United States.” He is speaking against the lack of appropriate violent action against terrorists, by Israel, by the world. He concludes, “Tears don't protect against murder. Bullets do. “

And from a letter to Ann Barnhardt, “Please pay particular attention to the section on equitable subordination, on pages 6 through 8. Unbelievably, the court acknowledged in that section that even though some of the bankers lied under oath during the trial, that fact did not prove "sufficiently egregious" actions on the part of the bank.

I will quote the opinion: "Instead of finding that their testimony [i.e. their lies] justified a finding of egregious bank behavior, the district court essentially found that the bank officials were such artless liars that they couldn't have been concealing deliberate wrongdoing." See page 7, column 2.

So in other words, a U.S. Court of Appeals has found that if a banker lies under oath during a trial, that fact proves that the bank was innocent of any misconduct with respect to the subject matter of those lies.”

Those two quotes kept bouncing around in my head (there’s plenty of empty space there) while waiting for my car’s oil to be changed. What kept them orbiting together? What was held in common?

Perhaps this: in a just world, a terrorist would be killed, those who enabled terrorists would also be meted out Justice. In a just world, even “artless liars” in a court of law would be found guilty of perjury. Imagine a mugger so feckless that the judge lets him free. Perhaps this is what a world turned upside down looks like to those still somewhat sane. A world that condemns “Israeli apartheid” regardless of the many facts to the contrary. A world where one country is condemned for building apartments and its enemy receives a wink and a nod after declaring it’s intentions to build a nuclear bomb and wipe it off the face of the earth. A world where friends of the most powerful man in the world produce a blatantly false commercial accusing his competitor of not only a felony (as in not paying taxes) but being a direct path to the death of a woman from cancer.

Conclusion: We are not living in a just world.

I hope my bullets are never put the test of being used justly. I train to protect myself and loved ones against murder. Enough tears.

Without The Rule Of Law

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 22:47:00 +0000

From market-ticket.org; that Deninger guy is pretty damn smart. He talks about the loss of the Rule Of Law in government. I can’t imagine how large the loss of the ROL negatively impacts society; perhaps to the point where society devolves. Where might makes right.

Nobody Committed Any Crimes (Except Treasury and Obama)

Where are the cops? Oh yeah, I know --- Eric (Place)Holder is right on it.... sitting on it, that is.

Emails obtained by The Daily Caller show that the U.S. Treasury Department, led by Timothy Geithner, was the driving force behind terminating the pensions of 20,000 salaried retirees at the Delphi auto parts manufacturing company.

The move, made in 2009 while the Obama administration implemented its auto bailout plan, appears to have been made solely because those retirees were not members of labor unions.

....

One email dated Thursday, April 2, 2009 shows PBGC staffer Joseph House discussing a meeting he and his colleagues were anticipating with the entire auto bailout team the following day.

House emailed PBGC colleagues Karen Morris and Michael Rae that during the Friday morning meeting, the “agenda is everything — lead off with Chrysler, then we’ll get into GM/Delphi.”

....

But after the Friday meeting, House emailed PBGC staffers Karen Morris and John Menke. “We’ve been disinvited,” he wrote. “It’s for the best.”

“Who uninvited us?” Morris replied.

“Treasury,” House responded.

It’s unclear how many additional meetings about the Delphi pensions took place, and whether PBGC staff were invited to participate in them. But Treasury excluded them from the meeting during which the discussions began, which is likely a violation of 29 U.S.C. §1342. Without a PBGC representative in the room, Treasury officials were legally prohibited from making decision about pensions — or even from moving toward them. [my emphasis]

It also appears that perjury was committed:

The internal government emails contradict sworn testimony, in federal court and before Congress, given by several Obama administration figures. They also indicate that the administration misled lawmakers and the courts about the sequence of events surrounding the termination of those non-union pensions, and that administration figures violated federal law.

Does anyone care about the rule of law any more?

We already know, for example, that the administration wantonly violated contract rights when it "re-ordered" priority so that union health benefits would be funded while bondholders who had a contractually senior position got screwed. The bondholders sued and lost, incidentally, effectively giving the government plenary authority to seize their money -- but that doesn't make it right.

...[snip]

It does, however, make crystal clear exactly how the Federal What we continue to see examples of, day after day, is evidence for why this nation and her people are fully-justified in believing that the rule of law doesn't matter any more. We have essentially completed a transition from the "Golden Rule" to the "Rule of Gold" -- that is, Do unto others then get the hell out of there, and if caught simply say "but nobody committed any crimes" -- after you duct-taped the cops eyes closed!

View this entry with comments (registration required to post)

I still read the frequent abuses of the current administration’s policies, perhaps to prove myself again and again, that some sort of calamity comes our way. Our way, as Americans and as Jews.

What good will your 401K be if the government wrests its control from you (see Ann Barnhardt’s spiel)? What good is anything you own by contract, as opposed to having it physically, when the friggin government can take it away? What does George Zimmerman feel as the weight of the government ignores laws and evidence and hounds him beyond sense of decency? Is there a limit to the lawlessness?

Where are you going to go if things go bad? Whether you think it is more likely than not or as likely as getting hit by lightening. Remember, people do get hit by lightening.

Once you’re there, then what? Got food and water? Got means to protect said food and water? You might not get .gov help if you’re not a member of a union or registered to the ‘correct’ political party. There are 20,000 people who had their retirement stolen. I guess swindling one pensioner is a crime, but swindling 20,000 pensioners is a statistic.

My guess is that the means to defend yourself -ie gun ownership - by the Progressive Statists will soon start. Not sure if if ‘soon’ means before the election or after. Soon though.

Gun up & ammo up

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:16:00 +0000

Daniel Greenfield, aka the SultanKnish, pointed out the insanity of the Left's dream of disarming citizens: "And yet Colorado has half the murder rate of Illinois, as adjusted for population. Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and New Hampshire, all full of guns, have far lower murder rates than gun control states like New York, California and Illinois. According to Bloomberg, "If we had fewer guns, we would have a lot fewer murders." But guns are not proportional to murder. [emphasis added] But guns are not proportional to murders.

Utah has the second highest gun ownership rate in the country and the eighth lowest homicide rate. Wyoming, the state with the fourth highest gun ownership rate has the fourth lowest homicide rate. Meanwhile New York is 48th in gun ownership, but is the 18th highest in its murder rate. "

Guns do not kill people, people kill people.

Imagine if the looney tune in Colorado could not get guns, what's to have stopped him from killing those in the movie theatre with other, simpler means. A bit of gasoline and a match. You can't stop crazies from trying.

So why does the Left want to disarm me? I can't be sure. I do know a bit of history, and civilians that are disarmed come to harm, either by those stronger (much can be done with a machete) orby those more organized and armed. Like Nazi Germany... national socialists, no? I can't go toe to toe in a brawl with 2 or 3 young thugs. A pistol evens the fight. Hell, it gives me an advantage.

Get gunned up before you can't. Learn as soon as possible, but have the guns now, you can learn later or let some one else use the damn thing to save your life. My suggestions start with a 45 cal, Glock model 30 or 21 (better - get both, they can share magazines) or a 1911, for those of smaller stature, perhaps the Ruger LCP in 380. Get one now; if you don't like it, you might be able to swap it for something you like better (check the laws!). For a rifle, well, can't go wrong with either an M4 (so many brands to chose from,your held will spin), or the Ruger 10/22, the 22 LR rifle. I bought a Mossberg Plinkster (damn that cute name) on sale. It's nice rifle, but I should have gotten the Ruger. I just don't think the Left Progressive folks will ever stop their war on the Constitution, and may someday soon be 'victorious' in banning the sale of firearms.

Get ammunition before it too becomes illegal. I suggest ammoman.com or luckygunner.com off the top of my head. I have no financial interest in those companies. Damn, if you can find better prices, please email me! Get ammo even if you don't have a gun; a friend - old or newly discovered - may need it to save you. You can't go wrong with 5.56, 45 cal, 9 mm or 308.

LOL, I frequently buy 308's and 45's in lots of 500 rounds, and the last 2 times I purchased 5.56/.223, the boxes contained 1,000 rounds. Lots cheaper than buying them box by box at Walmart. Yup, I may be on a list or two. I practice alot and most of them are gone. I need to order some up and start 'stockpiling' them. Perhaps as an investment. Ammoman had a sale on Federal Gold Medal Match 168grain 308's for about $1 per round when purchased in bulk. Otherwise, you're looking at $1.50 or more a round. OK, so I'm cheap.

Bottom line: Be safer by knowing how to use the firearm(s) you own. Step 1 is to buy the firearm before it is too late. Step 2 is to buy at least 1000 rounds. Step 3 is to learn ow to use it. We are so lucky to be among the incredibly small per centage of humans the world over to have a guarantee ("...the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."), it should be exercised in memory of those would would still be alive if they had a firearm to protect themselves.

If you have specific questions, feel free to email.

Color Me Quizzical

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 02:40:00 +0000

From American Thinker.

Return to the Article

July 16, 2012

Do Obama's Executive Orders Reveal A Pattern?

By Warren Beatty

President Barack Hussein "kill list" Obama has offered over 900 Executive Orders (EO), and he is not even through his first term. He is creating a wonderland of government controls covering everything imaginable, including a list of "Emergency Powers" and martial law EOs. And while Obama is busy issuing EOs to control everything inside the US, he has been issuing EOs to force us to submit to international regulations instead of our US Constitution.
And comments by North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue and former OMB director Peter Orszag only contribute to this pattern.
Is it now time to start connecting the dots? Obama signed EO 13603 on March 22, 2012. Then he signed EO 13617 on June 25, 2012, declaring a national emergency. Then he signed EO13618 on July 6, 2012.
In EO 13603, entitled, "National Defense Resources Preparedness," Obama says (among other things) that [we must]:

be prepared, in the event of a potential threat to the security of the United States, to take actions necessary to ensure the availability of adequate resources and production capability, including services and critical technology, for national defense requirements;

Obama has the power, through this EO, to "nationalize" (not seize) private assets in order to protect national interests. Further, the EO effectively states that he can:
1.   "identify" requirements for emergencies
2.   "assess" the capability of the country's industrial and technological base
3.   "be prepared" to ensure the availability of critical resources in time of national threat
4.   "improve the efficiency" of the industrial base to support national defense
5.   "foster cooperation" between commercial and defense sectors
There are pundits that suggest that by signing EO 13603, Obama has given himself power to declare martial law and suspend elections.
The main problem with EO 13603 is that the words/phrases in quotes can be interpreted in many ways, including ways that favor Obama and Democrats. Wait, we can have our Supreme Court decide what they mean. But that won't work since we know four of them to be Democrat hacks, and one justice can be influenced by the MSM.
In EO 13617, entitled "Blocking Property of the Government of the Russian Federation Relating to the Disposition of Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted From Nuclear Weapons," Obama says (among other things)that"

the risk of nuclear proliferation created by the accumulation of a large volume of weapons-usable fissile material in the territory of the Russian Federation continues to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.

Obama, by signing this EO, actually declared a national emergency. I guess that President Theodore Roosevelt's famous saying, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," can't apply in this case because we don't want to offend the Russians by having them honor treaties they signed (the "HEU" Agreement). But what's more important is that Obama can now "justify" any action he wants to take by citing EO 13617 since it declares a national emergency.
Then, in EO 13618, entitled, "Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions," Obama states (among other things) that:

The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions. ... Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies, and improve national resilience.

Obama cites "national security" in this EO. I guess Obama sees ANY excuse for declaring a national security emergency will appear better than taking over the nation's communications assets by force
Want more examples of what Obama is doing?

EO 10990 allows the Government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.
EO 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels, and minerals.
EO 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision
EO 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.
EO 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
EO 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate and establish new locations for populations.
EO 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities.

Are we beginning to see a pattern here? We're being prepared for a national emergency. Then there's taking control. I personally think that what Obama is doing goes way beyond being prepared.
North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue (Democrat), on September 28, 2011, suggested that perhaps elections should be suspended for two years by canceling, until the economy recovers, the 2012 elections. After that remark got the reception it deserved, Pardue's staff tried to pass it off as a joke.
Former White House director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag, who, on September 14, 2011, in a The New Republic article entitled "Too Much of a Good Thing: Why we need less democracy," said that we are that we are hampered by too much democracy, that the constitutional system (not really a democracy) is too slow to react, and the deliberations and negotiations are simply too cumbersome. Orszag suggests that the constitutional rules of limiting government offers impediments to autocratic, dictatorial actions, and are just too great.
That North Carolina governor Perdue would even joke (if it was a joke) about canceling an election is frightening enough, but that Orszag, a former official in Obama's administration, believes that doing away with the US Constitution is a viable solution should cause every AT reader to quake.
I'm never comfortable with laws that give the government broad reaching powers in the event of a "national emergency," especially when there is no clear, set, unchangeable definition of what actually constitutes a "national emergency."
Circumvention of the US Constitution by any means possible is the ultimate goal of Democrats and the Obama administration because the 2012 election is shaping up to be a repeat of the 2010 election.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but these three latest EOs and previous EOs Obama signed, coupled with Perdue's and Orszag's comments, suggest that something besides coincidence is going on.
Dr. Beatty earned a Ph.D. in quantitative management and statistics from Florida State University. He was a (very conservative) professor of quantitative management specializing in using statistics to assist/support decision making. He has been a consultant to many small businesses and is now retired. Dr. Beatty is a veteran who served in the U.S. Army for 22 years. He blogs at: rwno.limewebs.com.

Watch related American Thinker Video selections.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2012/07/do_obamas_executive_orders_reveal_a_pattern.html at July 17, 2012 - 09:33:08 PM CDT

How very odd.... another reason to remember Beans, Bullets, Bandaids, Bullion, and Buddies.

Find a Buddy

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 23:00:00 +0000

I've received an email requesting that this site have an interactive area so that preppers can find each other.

Send your comments, and regardless of what happens here, find some buddies.

Rule of Law, or not

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 11:43:00 +0000

Another great one at Sultan Knish. Read the whole thing. Here are some snippets.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

A Lawless Society

A Bill of Rights drafted today would look very different than it did back then.... The entire thing would run a few thousand pages and would be filled with all sorts of escape clauses, which when added together would render the whole thing meaningless.

That is the essence of a lawless society, which is to say that there are oodles and oodles of law, but it's merely a complicated way for those in power to enforce their will on others. If you want to force people to do something, all you need to do is study enough clauses, lay out your reasoning and it's done.

The United States has drifted into lawlessness, into laws that are the guns of government. Want to force everyone to buy health insurance? Pass a law. Ignore any questions of legality because legality doesn't matter. If people come out to protest, send out your SEIU thugs to beat them. If you lose your Senate majority, use Reconciliation to pass it. If the Supreme Court threatens to investigate the Constitutionality of the law, threaten the Court.

Rights become entirely positive and empathy based.

And often those who excel at marketing their suffering aren't suffering at all, while those who are genuinely suffering remain silent. Empathy-based law commodifies pain, but it's empty of justice.

The government-media complex acts out the empathy narrative. Its reporting has nothing to do with the facts, but everything to do with emotion.

Law is impartial. It states absolute principles that apply regardless of faction and position. But in a lawless society, there is no law, only power. The left has ushered in a lawless society, but we will all have to live with the consequences.

*************************

And what happens, in general, when a society's economy collapses?

And what happens, in general, when a society's Rule of Law collapses?

Think

Act

Prepare

Train

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 21:28:00 +0000

From Pamela Geller at Atlas Shugs:

NJ DEMOCRAT PRIMARY RACE, MUSLIMS ATTACK JEWISH CONGRESSMAN: ‘WE WANT THIS JEW OUT OF OFFICE’

A New Jersey congressional race is becoming a referendum on a candidate’s Judaism. Muslims are going after a Jewish congressman. Islamic Jew-hatred rears its ugly [be]head for the first time in a congressional race. But believe you me, it won't be the last time. Islamic Jew-Hatred -- it's in the quran.

It's very ugly, and the enemedia, self-enforcing the sharia, is not covering it. And the local press is giving the Islamic supremacists all the column inches the haters demand. Aref Assaf, president of the New Jersey-based American Arab Forum, is a vile nazi who has been getting the lion's share of press.

Assaf wrote in an oped in the New Jersey Star Ledger that the Jewish candidate under attack, Steve Rothman, "is using his support of Israel as the centerpiece of his campaign.” It is Assaf and his Jew-hating constiuency that are making it all about Rothman's Judaism and Israel. The Muslim Jew-haters are making it the centerpiece of their campaign. Rothman "has consciously avoided adding fuel to the ethnic fire by focusing instead on his congressional record, note political observers in both New Jersey and Washington, D.C."

“Rep. Rothman has run an issue-oriented campaign, focused on progressive values domestically and abroad"

This is the biggest unpublished story by the mainstream presss story of the entire 2012 season. Imagine if such things were said about Muslims -- the whole country would be flailed and flogged.

"Democratic House primary turns into ethnic proxy war over Israel" Free Beacon hat tip Mike

Democratic primary race in northern New Jersey has devolved into a highly competitive proxy war over Israel, pitting the state’s pro-Israel community against a growing constituency of Arab [Muslim] voters who have accused a sitting congressman of putting Israel’s interests before America’s.

As the race between Democratic Reps. Steve Rothman and Bill Pascrell nears its Tuesday finish, veteran political observers on the ground have expressed concern at the way the battle between the two veteran lawmakers has transformed into a troubling ethnic brawl.

“One side says, ‘We want this Jew out of office’ and, frankly, it’s pretty unsettling,” Ben Chouake, president of NORPAC, a pro-Israel political action committee based in Englewood Cliffs, told the Free Beacon. “They emphasized [Rothman] is a Jewish congressman.”

Others say they simply cannot recall a congressional race becoming a referendum on a candidate’s religion.

“For the first time in recent American political history, we are witnessing a proxy battle between supporters and detractors of Israel, and it’s playing out in the Ninth District of New Jersey,” said one veteran campaign strategist who is knowledgeable about the district.

The race took an unprecedented turn on Monday when an Arabic campaign poster supporting Pascrell surfaced. It urged the “Arab diaspora community” to “elect the friend of the Arabs” and billed the race as “the most important election in the history of the [Arab] community,” according to a WFB translation of the sign.

“I don’t read Arabic well, but I am pretty sure that the pro-Pascrell posters that have appeared across the district are not calling to elect the candidate who supports a strong relationship between America and the only democracy in the Middle East, one which is rooted in progressive Western values—women’s rights, gay rights, tolerance, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.,” said Josh Block, a Democratic strategist and former spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Observers such as Susan Rosenbluth, publisher of the New Jersey-based Jewish Voice and Opinion, say the race took an anti-Semitic turn in late February, when a prominent Arab supporter of Pascrell accused the state’s Jewish voters of being more loyal to Israel than America.

“Unquestionably, this primary election is pitting two otherwise harmoniously coexisting communities: the Muslim and Jewish communities,” Aref Assaf, president of the New Jersey-based American Arab Forum, wrote in a New Jersey Star-Ledger column headlined “Rothman is Israel’s man in District 9.”

“As total and blind support for Israel becomes the only reason for choosing Rothman, voters who do not view the elections in this prism will need to take notice. Loyalty to a foreign flag is not loyalty to America’s,” Assaf wrote.

The canard—reminiscent of the “Israel firster” controversy that has engulfed the left-wing Center for American Progress Action Fund and Media Matters for America—reverberated through the tight-knit Jewish community, raising alarm among pro-Israel stalwarts.

“A number of Arab-American constituents have come out with outrageous attacks on Rothman,” said Rosenbluth, whose newspaper is based in Englewood. “I haven’t heard a dual loyalty charge for years.”

At that point, things really “started to get ugly,” said NORPAC’s Chouake, explaining that “for the pro-Israel community, it’s not about Jewish or not-Jewish or helping an ethnic culture, but about believing there should be a homeland for a people oppressed and slaughtered for 2,000 years.”

“It’s a little bit scary,” said Chouake, who noted that massive voter registration drives in the Arab community have added at least 6,000 new names to the rolls. Some of those registrations have been disputed.

Most disturbing, said Rosenbluth and others, is that Pascrell has remained silent, refusing to condemn the charges of dual loyalty.

“I called Pascrell’s office and asked, ‘Will you condemn it?’ ” Rosenbluth said. “They said, ‘We didn’t write it.’”

As Election Day approaches in the tight race, Assaf again has taken to the pages of the New Jersey Star-Ledger to rally the Arab community.

“The more we vote this year, the more important our community will be in future elections,” Assaf wrote Wednesday. “In New Jersey’s Ninth District race between Pascrell and Rothman, our vote will be of pivotal significance to the outcome.”

In a separate column released Monday, Assaf referred to the city of Paterson a “Little Jerusalem,” and deemed “the root of the conflict” in the race as lying “thousands of miles from Paterson, in the heart of the Middle East.”

Assaf went on to make several unfounded claims about what he said is Rothman’s “misdirected commitment” to Israel.

“The Arab and Muslim community of northern New Jersey is taking notice of how Steve Rothman is using his support of Israel as the centerpiece of his campaign,” Assaf wrote in the op-ed, which included a picture of the pro-Pascrell Arabic campaign poster. “They take issue with Rothman bragging about his help in getting Israel over $50 billion in aid since 2001, while bringing back only $2 billion to New Jersey residents.”

Actually, the Muslim Jew-haters are making it the centerpiece of their campaign.

Rothman has consciously avoided adding fuel to the ethnic fire by focusing instead on his congressional record, note political observers in both New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

“Rep. Rothman has run an issue-oriented campaign, focused on progressive values domestically and abroad, including his strong pro-Israel credentials, among other things,” said Block. “Rep. Pascrell, however, has implicitly endorsed odious attacks on Rothman’s religion and commitment to the United States. These claims are reminiscent of canards regularly bandied about by White Supremacists and anti-Semites.”

Pascrell is clearly “seeking the support of Muslim and Arab voters at the cost of his Jewish support,” one political operative in New Jersey said.

Meanwhile, the district’s typically Republican Orthodox Jewish voters have mobilized behind Rothman.

In February, Orthodox leaders from 15 synagogues in Passaic urged their congregants to switch party affiliation so that they would be eligible to vote for Rothman in the primary.

“This is very important to the Orthodox community, and Rothman’s relationship with the Orthodox community is strong,” said Rosenbluth. “Pascrell’s has been tenuous.”

That has led Pascrell to embrace a growing community of Turks, Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, and Jordanians—many of whom were moved into the Ninth District last year when congressional maps were updated in response to the census.

Pascrell in recent weeks has waged a charm offensive in the Arab community, campaigning alongside a Hamas-sympathizer and many who have expressed hostility towards Israel.

James Zogby, president of the American Arab Institute, recently helped Pascrell collect more than $50,000; Zogby is a longtime critic of Israel who has accused the U.S. of “being the coat holder and cheerleader” for the Jewish state.

Pascrell also has embraced Imam Mohammad Qatanani, a controversial Passaic spiritual leader who stands accusedby the State Department of hiding a conviction in Israel for having ties to the terror group Hamas.

Last Friday, Pascrell held a high profile event at a local mosque where he was joined by Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn), a prominent ally of the fringe group J Street and the first Muslim member of Congress.

Pascrell, too, has come under fire for his association with J Street. In 2010, the lawmaker endorsed the so-called “Gaza 54” letter, which demanded that President Obama force Israel to end its “collective punishment” of those living in the Gaza Strip. It is a vote that Pascrell has said he “doesn’t regret.”

“By campaigning so hard with one group, were Congressman Pascrell to win reelection, it seems that his marginally supportive voting record on Israel may take a turn for the worst and become openly hostile,” said the New Jersey-based political operative.

Wildly horrible. Muslims hating Jews is accepted and sanctioned. Devastating.

*********

Musings with a friend about some old Jewish rebel's motto: for every Jew, a 22, which led us to a '223 to remain free', and my contribution, 'a 308 to dominate', and later 'a 50 cal for every boy and gal' but enough silliness. Perhaps if you don't know what the references are, you should. If you don't know how to protect yourself beyond calling 911, you should. Call an instructor or local shooting range and learn something that might save your life, the lives of you family and friends.

An Apology to kooky Dr. Paul

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:43:00 +0000

Some time ago, presidential hopeful Dr Paul said something about be afraid of a wall along the souther border to prevent Mexicans from walking into the US at sometime being used to keep Americans in the USA against their will. At first, I thought what a kook, and worse.

Until I read about this:
Senate Democrats on Thursday unveiled the Ex-Patriot Act (Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy,) a bill to punish Americans who renounce their citizenship for tax purposes. The move was a reaction specifically to Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who last fall withdrew his citizenship in advance of the company's multibillion-dollar initial public offering, set to take place Friday.

The article continues. Basically, if you decide to renounce your citizenship, the gov'mint can keep your money. Perhaps not a physical wall keeping you in, but metaphysical perhaps.

Call me paranoid, but I have never looked at the Jews fleeing Germany with gold coins sewn into the hems of their clothing to bribe border agents as uncivilized. Hopefully it will never again be fashionable.

In any event, my apologies to Dr Paul, although he remains a bit of a crank. I think.

Spring Cleaning: BOB and GOOD bags

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:50:00 +0000

The weather finally began to warm up and it is time to do a Spring cleaning - remove all the winter gear and replace it with more seasonally appropriate clothing. Other items, from ammo in magazines to something that starts a Z that are independent of the weather, would stay.

A far better write up than I could achieve can be found here: http://mountainguerrilla.blogspot.com/ on 06 May 2012, titled "Some Notes on Current Load-Outs and Gear". Perhaps too complicated for some but read it and try to figure it out. If you can't, ask someone or email me here.

My BOB (Bug Out Bag) is my 'grab that bag as I run out of my burning house', some basics, whereas my GOOD (Get Out Of Dodge) bag is much larger and is when I have a bit more time to run away. A bit more time, and I throw all I can in my car and drive. Mosby's 'fighting out load' is akin to the BOB. Out of necessity, it must be tailored to your ability and environment; his 'sustainment load' is similar to the GOOD bag, and likewise must be tailored to you strengths and needs.

Yup, he has a lot of stuff. You must keep in mind you may be carrying this stuff, and the weight may be a significant limiting factor. Bullets or water? For me, bullets, as in my environment there is plenty of streams, ponds and lakes, and my water filter with a water bladder goes a long way. Because there's so much water (think mud), I add a extra socks and a pair of boots. Look at his list, copy the parts that work for you, add what needs to be added. And if you physically unable to to trek out on foot, make damn sure you pay attention and drive while the driving is good. Yup, this may mean a few 'false alarms'; consider them practice and learn from them.

I have begun to pre-position much of my preps at what I am beginning to call 'Sanctuary'. I brought up a bag of winter gear to leave up there. If all goes well, I'll pick it up in the Fall. If the SHTF, it's where I need them. I just got to make sure I don't wait too long a make a nice drive into an 3 or 4 week hike. I heard the black flies out here are hellish and DEET doesn't work. I better dig up the mosquito suit before I forget.

And keep an eye on Daniel Greenberg at http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/.

Another reason to prep

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:08:00 +0000

From Atlas Shrugs... if you don't read it, you should.

AFDI/SIOA CALLS FOR BOYCOTT OF URBAN OUTFITTERS "AUSCHWITZ" SHIRTS AND ANTI-JEWISH CLOTHING, STOP URBAN'S JEW-HATRED AGITPROP

Memo to Urban Outfitters management: fire the Jew-Haters who keep creating pieces destined to incite to violence and genocide.

Condemn Auschwitz chic -- join the Facebook page

The norming of evil. As the depraved left tightens its chokehold on the culture, the media, arts, and popular culture in general reveal to us their true face -- monsters. This is how Hitler and his lovers overtook a country...... incrementally, step by step, mainstreaming hate, dehumanization and genocide via the culture. This is the MBO of the left/Islamic coalition in America. The banality of evil.

American clothing company Urban Outfitters is selling a holocaust T-shirt bearing the Jewish star that Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis in death camps. This Urban Outfitters T-shirt is labeled "Auschwitz chic" and retails for $100. The “patchwork Star of David on the left breast pocket goes back to 1930s and 40s Europe.” The “vintage yellow color” of the shirt is Nazi yellow -- obvious to students of Nazi Germany. This is just another in a long line from the antisemitic Urban Outfitters of Jew-hating clothing pieces using monstrous iconography. The latest Jew-hatred fashion follows on the heels of Arafat's war scarf (the keffiyeh) is this Auschwitz tee shirt. The store also generated anger in 2004 with a shirt bearing the words “Everybody Loves a Jewish Girl,” surrounded by dollar signs and shopping bags.

By Mail / Phone / Fax

Urban Outfitters Direct
30 Industrial Park Blvd. Trenton, SC 29847

My email here.

US & Canada Residents:

Sales (800) 282-2200: Open from 7am-2am, EST, 7 days a week

Customer Service (800) 959-8794: Open from 8am - 8pm, EST, Monday - Friday; Fax (800) 959-8795

[call these folks, don't take it out on the operators tho.]

UK Residents:

Sales & Customer Service 0800-988-7726: Open from 7am - 2am, EST, 7 Days a week

Previous Jew-hating cultural fashion items at Urban jackboot Outfitters:

URBAN OUTFITTERS JIHAD FASHIONBLOOD LIBELING ...

May 20, 2008 ... Atlas reader Ed F. expressed his outrage to Urban Outfiitters for this brutal, bloody Jew hating tee shirt. They responded but this is not the first ...

atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/.../urban-outfitter.html

Jihad Chic

Dec 18, 2006 ... the president of urban outfitters is Richard Hayne. If you do not know who that is, you probably should. he is a staunch republican and a ...

atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2006/.../jihad_chic.html

Promoting MURDER: The New Black! - Atlas Shrugs

Jan 15, 2007 ... Apparently Urban Outfitters is going national (worldwide!) with this ugly ...Remember this back in December in a Urban Outfitters store in Vegas.

atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/.../promoting_death.html

Urban Outfiitters Pulls KeffiyahWooHoo - Atlas Shrugs

Jan 19, 2007 ... Urban Outfitters, a popular American clothing store, on Thursday halted sales of a range of keffiyehs, the traditional Arab headdress, which it ...

atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/.../urban_outfiitte.html

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:34:00 +0000

Why prep? Please see the previous entry and add this to the list. This is in addition to the cooler-headed economic reasons.

From: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/04/18/Media-Matters-Boehlert-Anti-Semitism

"Two weeks ago, Media Matters for America (MMFA) quasi-parted ways with anti-Semitic Senior Foreign Policy Fellow MJ Rosenberg, who was fond of labeling pro-Israel Jews “Israel firsters.” This PR maneuver was designed to stifle mounting criticism of MMFA’s anti-Jewish propagandizing, and its close association with the Obama administration.

Unfortunately, the problem doesn’t end with MJ Rosenberg.

Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert, one of the faces of the organization, has a dicey record when it comes to Israel and the Jews. On September 11, 2001, he wrote a piece for Salon.comdefending American Muslims from the supposed anti-Muslim hysteria brewing. In that piece, he recounted a Muslim rally in Paterson, New Jersey:

"We won't rest until all the Jews are dead," said a burly young man. "Shame on America," said another bitter-faced youth. "For helping Israel to kill Palestinians," said a third.

In the wake of the WTC attacks, however, those brash sentiments were muted.

“We won’t rest until all the Jews are dead” is not a “brash sentiment.” It is openly genocidal anti-Semitism. But not to Eric Boehlert, apparently.

Boehlert’s bias in favor of anti-Jewish terrorists didn’t stop there. In 2002, he wrote a piece for Salon.com in which he lamented the fate of Professor Sami Al-Arian, former North American head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This is the same Al-Arian who proclaimed, “God cursed those who are sons of Israel … Those people, God made monkeys and pigs … Let us damn America, let us damn Israel, let us damn them and their allies until death.” When Al-Arian was suspended from his teaching post at Florida Atlantic University, Boehlert defended Al-Arian as an “innocent professor.”

As for mainstream media coverage of Israel – which is almost universally skewed against Israel – Boehlert thinks that the media coverage isn’t anti-Israel enough. “I don’t think it’s a surprise to suggest the Middle East conflict is essentially told through the eyes of Israel,” Boehlert said in 2006. About the Israel-Lebanon conflict in 2006, he added, “I think sometimes in the last couple of weeks, it's sort of gone beyond that and I think what also is not acknowledged is that there's extraordinary political pressure in the United States to tell this story from a certain narrative and journalists who don't, get attacked and it's unpleasant and I think it affects the coverage.” In other words, the Jews are pressuring the journalists.

The position that the press is biased toward Israel is a longstanding Boehlert favorite. In 2002, he penned a piece for Salon.com decrying the pro-Jewish slant of the New York Sun, scolding, “the paper’s primary passions are clearly Israel and Jewish causes.” This was Boehlert’s drumbeat at Salon.com: the press was too favorable to the Jewish State.

No doubt that’s what prompted Media Matters to hire Boehlert in the first place. As we will be exposing, Media Matters is choc-a-bloc with MJ Rosenberg ideological clones. And that’s no coincidence."

Screw Media Matters. May history treat them appropriately.

Also floating out there .... from market-ticker.org:

Three months ago, in his State of the Union speech, President Obama announced a new task force to investigate mortgage fraud and bring some measure of relief to the 12 million American families who are either losing their homes or in danger of losing them.
The new Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group would be co-chaired by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, U.S. Attorney John Walsh of Colorado and three Washington insiders from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Obama said, “This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans.”

So what has happened?

Tuesday, calls to the Justice Department’s switchboard requesting to be connected with the working group produced the answer, “I really don’t know where to send you.” After being transferred to the attorney general’s office and asking for a phone number for the working group, the answer was, “I’m not aware of one.”

So I guess Obama lied to US ... again. And to top it off, he admits to eating, or at least trying, dog meat.

We have a media interwoven with the current administration and they both lie about the economy and antisemitism inherit in islam. Both important topics to me. And there are so many other 'official lies' coming out of the media and administration. Makes me feel good about zero'ing in my deer rifle last week.

And this, from occupy wall street:

#OWS OCCUPY TAMPA POSTS VILE JEW-HATING CARTOON ON HOLOCAUST DAY

The leftwing Haaretz fails to mention that Muslim Brotherhood groups like CAIR have infiltrated and in some cases systematically taken over various #OWS movements. This is not such a stretch, considering the virulent Jew-hatred rampant on the left. Jew-haters love jihad. Perf.

From Atlas shrugs....

If you don't get it now, perhaps you never will.

What's In A Name?

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:02:00 +0000

Please read Sultankinish’s piece on Sunday, April 15th.

“George Zimmerman is not on trial because he shot a black teenager during a scuffle. It's not the facts of the case that brought him here. It's his name. Had his last name been Pereira, none of this would have gone anywhere. And it's not the name alone, it's that in this time and place lynching him will help make the political fortunes of everyone from the man in the White House to his cheerful smiling prosecutor who is already counting her campaign cash and book deals.”

I still hold that there is someone embarressed once they discovered “George Zimmerman” wasn’t some Jewish guy with glasses but of Hispaninc (now White hispanic!) heritage.

Talk to some of your acquaintances who support Obama and point out that George Zimmerman...

“has been assigned white team colors, had an NRA badge pinned to his lapel, and is being shoved out into the stadium while the lunatic mob howls for blood. The Emperor of Hope and Change has already made the thumbs down gesture, the courtiers are rushing out to fix the match.”

NBC was complicit in the fix with their infamous editing. What else have they twisted?

“Zimmerman wasn't indicted on charges of shooting a man, but of being a racist, of being the living embodiment of American inequality, NRA lawmaking and a dozen other sins. These are not charges that he can ever shake, because they are not legal crimes, they are political crimes.”

Please read the rest and add the site to your favorites where it should be read often. http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/

No matter from what direction, the chance of collapse is rising. Rather than allow for the possibility of the deficit, debt, lack of a budget and etc to become the topic of the lamestream media, a guy with a Jewish-sounding name gets demonized. Who or what is next? Will Israel be further demonized by the Left for snuffing Iran’s dreams of a mushroom cloud replacing Tel Aviv? The Left has a great start, palling around with terrorists by calling them oppressed. Even if you call my dog’s tail a leg, she still only has 4 legs. When does the camaraderie between the Left and terrorists transform into a shared open hatred of Jews? Remember that Rabbis were concerned about the high rate of intermarriage and assimilation in pre-Nazi Germany. A few short years later, they had other concerns. The most affluent and advanced nation of its era - recall that German science developed rockets to reach England and during the final months of WWII, put the first jets in the air flying 3 times faster than any Allied propeller-driven airplane . Fortunately, Hitler shunned atomic physics as “Jewish”. Laws were passed, the German psyche somehow changed to allow them to either ignore, allow or participate in the slaughter of millions whose crime was being ‘other’.

To draw a parallel with America is crazy, no? Despite the attempts to make circumcision illegal in San Fran (see http://abcnews.go.com/Health/san-francisco-vote-circumcision-ban/story?id=13638220#.T4wHX5g7-pE), despite the open-mike gaffe with Sarkosy bemoaning the fact that Ubama is forced to deal with Netanyahu, to have Eric “My people” Holder’s Department of Justice ignoring the illegal activities of the New Black Panthers, well you should know many more examples. From either secular or non-secular vantage points, we as a Nation, are screwed. And what happens to the Jews in a Nation as it circles the drain into failed country bin of history?

Maybe I’m being paranoid. I should ask George Zimmerman.

What'chya gonna do?

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:01:00 +0000

First, my take on Zimmerman's treatment: there is someone quite embarrassed at the DoJ after assuming "Zimmerman" would be a white Jewish guy with glasses. Better luck next time.

Then the Osama, errr, Ubama, oops, Obama administration leaks Israeli secrets vital to kinetic diplomacy (ie bombs) to convince Iran to stop pursuing nuclear weapons. See: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/03/awful-obama-administration-leaks-information-on-israels-secret-military-alliance-with-azerbaijan-video/

Obama Administration Lifts Veil on Secret Israel-Azerbaijan Alliance–
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton blasted the Obama administration today for intentionally leaking information on Israel’s secret military alliance with Azerbaijan. Bolton was on FOX News today to discuss the Obama Administration’s latest attack on Israel.

According to a Foreign Policy report based on “four senior diplomats and military intelligence officers” Azerbaijan has given Israel permission to land planes on Azeri airfields after an attack on Iranian nuclear sites. The Obama Administration leaked this information putting the alliance in jeopardy and endangering the Israeli nation.

Patrick Brennan has more on the Obama administration’s back-stabbing at The Corner.

And, the Jerusalem Post also blamed the Obama Administration for the sensitive leaks.

‘Foreign Policy’ claims Azerbaijan granted Israel access to air bases along Iran’s northern border for potential use in strike.
Leaks regarding Israeli plans to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities continued Thursday, raising suspicion within the political and defense establishment that the Obama administration was intentionally trying to undermine potential military action.
The first report appeared in Bloomberg and, citing a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, said that Iran would be able to recover from a military strike against its centrifuge fabrication plants within six months…
…In another report, Foreign Policy claimed that Azerbaijan had granted Israel access to air bases along Iran’s northern border for potential use in a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
“The Israelis have bought an airfield,” the report quoted an unnamed US official as saying, “and the airfield is called Azerbaijan.”

So, IMHO, I wonder if I am seeing, and too close to ignoring, the same things Jews in pre-Nazi Germany ignored. Yes, there are laws and the Constitution protecting Religion: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Now if there is a problem, who enforces it? The current administration? The same folks that sent DoJ officials to prosecute someone they thought was a Jewish man? What happens when there is no prosecuting blatantly illegal behavior, such as inciting to murder as in the New Black Panther Party's $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman "DEAD or alive"?

Does your synagogue have security? Remember there was already one publicized plot to bomb a synagogue in the Bronx, and then to shoot the survivors as they sought safety. Do you have security for you and yours?

Are you going to move when it becomes dangerous to be a Jew in your city or neighborhood, like what is happening in Europe? Me, I am American. No hyphen. An American who happens to be Jewish. I am not moving, unless its to cover or concealment.

Some suggestions, sort of like buying insurance so you don't need it.

Exercise your second amendment rights to protect your first amendment rights. If you don't know jack about firearms, it may be time to learn. There are plenty of sources.

You can skip the rest if you don't like thinking about guns. I enjoy guns for two reasons, foremost, to paraphrase Tolkien, I like them for what they protect. My family, my friends, my 'co-religionists', my country.

I have love/hate relationships with my Glock and 1911 45's. My Glocks are awesome, I bought one used about 15 years ago, put countless rounds through it, and it still functions flawlessly and accurately without any part replacement. Rock solid doesn't come close. Despite being very familiar with it, using it as my EDC (every day carry) for almost 10 years, I still was never comfortable carrying it with one in the tube. Not very useful if you need to rack the slide in an emergency situation. I just couldn't (and can't) get over the lack of a thumb safety. Many can and do. Not me.

I bought a 1911 (Springfield's Commander) for EDC. Absolutely comfortable carrying it "cocked and locked". Having cut my teeth on a Glock, field stripping the 1911 just sucked - so many little steps, much more difficult. I can field strip my Glock in less than 15 seconds, not so with a 1911. Plus the anemic 7 round magazine, replaced with an 8 round mag, compared to 10 round mag of the Glock (Model 30). The XDM's seem to have the best of both worlds, but I am not about to buy more pistols.

And rifles. I finally understand a chef's obsession with so many different knives or a woman's obsession with shoes - there is one just perfect for varying situations.

For those in the North East desiring to learn how to safely use/handle/own a firearm, a good friend in an NRA certified instructor in pistol, rifle and shot gun. Train up and hope you don't need the knowledge and skill. Take your spouse and your kids for their safety and yours.

Implications??

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:12:00 +0000

Chinese hackers 'had full access' to Nasa lab that commands 23 spacecraft

UPDATED: 10:27 EST, 7 March 2012

JPL commands missions such as the Mars Rovers, pictured: The lab commands 23 active spacecraft missions

Chinese hackers gained 'full access' to the computer network in one of Nasa's key control centres, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

JPL manages 23 spacecraft conducting active space missions, including missions to Jupiter, Mars and Saturn.

The hackers, operating from an internet address in China, gained full system access in November 2011, allowing them to upload hacking tools to steal user IDs and control Nasa systems, as well as copy sensitive files.

The hackers were also able to modify system logs to conceal their actions.

‘The intruders had compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users, giving the intruders access to most of JPL's networks,’ said National Aeronautics and Space Administration Inspector General Paul Martin.

The cyber attack was one of 'thousands' of computer security lapses at the space agency.

Martin said the hackers gained full system access, which allowed them to modify, copy, or delete sensitive files, create new user accounts and upload hacking tools to steal user credentials and compromise other NASA systems.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Inspector General Paul Martin testified before Congress on the breaches.

In another attack last year, intruders stole credentials for accessing NASA systems from more than 150 employees.

Martin said the his office identified thousands of computer security lapses at the agency in 2010 and 2011.

Mars Rover, controlled by JPL: The hackers, operating from an internet address in China, gained full system access, allowing them to upload hacking tools to steal user IDs and control Nasa systems, as well as copy sensitive files

He also said NASA has moved too slowly to encrypt or scramble the data on its laptop computers to protect information from falling into the wrong hands.

Unencrypted notebook computers that have been lost or stolen include ones containing codes for controlling the International Space Station, as well as sensitive data on NASA's Constellation and Orion programs, Martin said.

A NASA spokesman told Reuters on Friday the agency was implementing recommendations made by the Inspector General's Office.

‘NASA takes the issue of IT security very seriously, and at no point in time have operations of the International Space Station been in jeopardy due to a data breach,’ said NASA spokesman Michael Cabbagehe.

Giving testimony on the space agency's security issues, NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin told Congress that 48 agency devices were lost or stolen over a two year period.

Enlarge

Security breach: A laptop stolen from NASA contains the control codes used to command the International Space Station

The mobile devices, which contained personable data, intellectual property, and highly sensitive export-controlled data, were stolen between April 2009 and April 2011, CBS News reported.

Over two years alone NASA was the victim of 5,408 computer security breaches that included unauthorized access to systems or the installation of unauthorized software. The incidents during 2010 and 2011 cost the space agency around $7 million.

Martin told Congress in written testimony: 'The March 2011 theft of an unencrypted NASA notebook computer resulted in the loss of the algorithms used to command and control the International Space Station,'

Another stolen laptop contained classified information on NASA's space exploration Constellation and Orion programs and employees social security details.

These figures may be the tip of the iceberg, Martin said because the system for reporting lost data or devices is voluntary:

He said: 'NASA cannot consistently measure the amount of sensitive data exposed when employee notebooks are lost or stolen because the agency relies on employees to self-report regarding the lost data rather than determining what was stored on the devices by reviewing backup files,' CBS News reported.

Fears: NASA Inspector General Paul Martin painted a bleak picture of security at the space agency

In 2011 NASA was the victim of 47 serious cyberattacks by individuals or groups attempting to steal information or gain access to systems, Martin said.

13 of these advanced persistent threats or (APTs) were successful including one attack in which system access codes for some 150 NASA employees were stolen.

Another attack on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. stemming from China based USPs is still under investigation. Cyber thieves 'gained full access to key JPL systems and sensitive user accounts,' Martin said.

Martin painted a gloomy picture of security at NASA explaining while the rate of mandated encryption across government departments was 54 percent, just 1 percent of NASA portable devices are encrypted.

'Until NASA fully implements an agency-wide data encryption solution, sensitive data on its mobile computing and portable data storage devices will remain at high risk for loss or theft,' he said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2110506/Chinese-hackers-control-Nasa-lab-commands-23-spacecraft.html#ixzz1ofF11XQ0

Ready for more?

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:32:00 +0000

http://rsc.jordan.house.gov/UploadedFiles/rsc_gas_prices_high_resolution.jpg

Doom & Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook Review and the new Prepper TV Channel!

noreply@blogger.com (Survivor) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:09:00 +0000

Right Wing? Left Wing? Try joining the Accurate Wing

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:42:00 +0000

From YidWithLid .... quoting Barry Rubin

By Barry Rubin

I ran into an older, retired Israeli colleague who is a fine scholar in his field. We hadn’t met for 25 years and agreed to have coffee in a nearby Tel Aviv cafe. In the ensuing conversation I learned some key things about why current intellectual and political discussion is such a wreck.

The retired professor has read nothing I’ve written. He is on the left-wing politically, in the historic non-Communist sense, but his work has always been first-rate and untouched by any political slant. In addition, he has worked amicably with people of different views.

And that’s why I was dismayed by his first question: “Are you left-wing or right-wing?”

I sighed, partly because I hate this starting point of dividing people into two categories. A more appropriate question would have been: “what do you think of … ?” To classify someone is to decide in advance to agree or disagree with whatever they say. To ask someone their view makes it possible to listen and think about the quality of their ideas.

A scholar or analyst, whatever his personal views, should do work that is beyond politics.

Many years ago I wrote a scholarly article on American radical professors of the 1930s and 1940s. I was almost unable to find a single case in which anyone had even been accused of politicizing their academic work or classroom teaching. They viewed such behavior as inappropriate, and perhaps some were worried about how being outspoken might hurt their careers. At any rate, even during the McCarthy era people were pursued for their organizational memberships and not their classroom behavior.

Today, all those old issues of professional ethics have vanished. Professors may spend most of their time being propagandists: throw away scholarly standards and energetically persecute dissenters.

Back to my cafe meeting: if one puts people into a box, all that follows will either be banal agreement or total argument. If this encounter had been in an American context, the next hour or so might have been spent on endless consensus on how great or terrible Obama is. Alternatively, the discussion would have been characterized by a heated argument in which each person would not concede that the other had a single valid point to make. Either way, nobody probably would have learned anything new or need to exercise their brain.

So I gave my standard response:

The international issues I deal with have no “left” or “right” wing aspect to them. The important question is how one analyzes situations, issues, and events. They should be approached as objectively as possible with an honest attempt to be accurate, to produce evidence proving one’s assertions, and to follow where the facts lead.

Perhaps because he is a pre-politically correct person on the left, he completely understood my response and he correctly added an additional point: “And not to conceal things that don’t coincide with your thesis.”

A generation ago, this is how people thought.

You could hold totally different political views, but how you wrote history or taught about works of literature was something else entirely. Not everything people said was predictable, because they actually thought about things rather than merely apply a preexisting political standpoint. Academics across the political spectrum respected what some call the “scientific method” — I prefer “Enlightenment values.”

I continued:

Figuring out whether or not, say, the Muslim Brotherhoodis a radical organization is not a matter of political viewpoint. One’s politics should be expressed by what one wants to achieve, not in one’s analysis of the situation.

Although I didn’t say so, an example I had in mind was this: I would like to see a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That puts me left-of-center in Israel. But my good-faith assessment of the Palestinian political scene (leadership, ideology, groups, public opinion, options) and of the regional situation is that overwhelming evidence claims this is impossible to achieve at this time. The evidence — and there is hardly any actual evidence — offered by those who argue otherwise is not persuasive.

Consequently, I draw policy conclusions from that analysis. No two-state solution is possible at this time. I then go on — I won’t go into this right now — to develop my view of the best policy response to the situation.

Instead, I asked him how he saw this methodological problem in which one’s politics determined whether the Brotherhood was radical or moderate. Here’s approximately what he said:

People on the right slant the facts to fit their political views while people on the left don’t.

After I questioned this, he altered his statement to “most people” in either case. I then asked for examples. He gave two and I will take them one at a time.

He continued:

Rightists say that [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad is so extreme that you cannot talk to him. He is eager for war to wipe out Israel. You can’t talk to him so therefore war with Iran is necessary.

That’s a fascinating mixture of points from which I think we can learn a lot. Let’s dissect.

The opening point — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is so extreme that you cannot talk to him — is clearly correct, not wrong at all. What is needed, though, is to separate analysis from policy proposals and always to look for alternatives.

I think these are the two points that people don’t understand, and they are destroying any productive discussion of intellectual or political issues at present. So let me repeat them:
Analysis should be separate from policy. If people conflate the idea that the Iranian regime is extremely radical, intransigent, and dangerous and thus no deal can be made — the perception of reality — with what should be done about it, people will reject the correct analysis because they don’t agree with the proposed response. Example: We must lie about Palestinian politics or we will damage the cause of peace; we must lie about revolutionary Islamism or we will provoke a war. Of course, lying is most likely to hurt peace or to lead to creating a crisis that will end in war.
When moving from analysis to policy, one should think creatively and not just give a knee-jerk response. There are many alternatives to going to war with Iran. But an accurate assessment of the threat’s existence must be the starting point. Examine each issue and the needed policy response on an individual basis rather than impose an ideological template on it.

To prove how the above two points apply, let me go to his second example, which precisely paralleled the one on Iran:

The right-wing says that the Muslim Brotherhood is radical. Egypt is an enemy. Hence, the only response is a major military buildup.

Here we see the same two points. The Muslim Brotherhood is indeed radical. But that doesn’t make Egypt an enemy, at least certainly not right now. Equally, it does not foreclose other policy responses and a more sophisticated third alternative between pretending all is fine (even worse, supporting the Brotherhood!) and going to war next week.

But before answering how one should deal with these two specific issues, let me explain how ludicrous is this line of argument — we must lie rather than admit the “right-wing nuts” are right — which currently governs our discourse. Consider this:

We are on a ship. Some of the crew says that the ship has sprung a big leak. Some passengers and crew are yelling that the ship will sink and everyone is going to die.

That is a horrible situation that I don’t want to believe. Personally I don’t like the individuals who are crying out warnings. And I don’t believe everyone will inevitably die.

So therefore I will respond: The ship is just fine. Those who say the ship is sinking are right-wing extremists and should be ignored.

Or a historical example:

(This is completely hypothetical and does not correspond with historical reality) 1941: any analyst who suggests that Japan might attack the United States is a warmongering right-wing racist who is more likely to get the United States into a war with Japan. We must insist that no such war is possible because we don’t want war.

(There was, however, a real-life parallel to that one: Stalin punished any Soviet analysts or intelligence agents who warned that Germany might attack the USSR. Yes, that’s how debate is conducted in a dictatorship, but shouldn’t be the method adopted by a democracy).

Here’s an example closer to home:

There are those who say that the U.S. government has a huge deficit that’s only growing. Entitlements are unsustainable. Tax increases won’t even begin to cover it. But I don’t want to admit that is true (especially because conservatives are saying it and I hate those people!). So I will instead insist that everything is fine, we don’t really have to make any major changes, and all we have to do is raise taxes on the rich.

And that’s what’s killed historic moderate liberalism — which would have tried to come up with some solution to a real problem — and empowered radicalism, which ignores reality and just calls the other side nasty names. If you deny the problem exists at all because you don’t like your rivals’ proposed solution, then you are doomed, baby.

My central point: We should agree on what is real using proper and honest methods of analysis.

Then we can discuss what to do about it in a rational fashion. But disagreeing with someone else’s analysis because you don’t like their proposed policy amounts merely to lying deliberately, or to making a fool of yourself by denying what is obviously true and being totally unprepared to deal with the resulting crisis.

What about alternative solutions? I am against attacking Iran militarily at this time. Iran’s firing of nuclear weapons is not inevitable. Covert methods, sanctions, building alliances, supporting the opposition, containment, and other methods offer a way to counter the Iranian threat. Moreover, the ultimate strategy is that if there is a clear and present danger of Iran firing nuclear weapons, it can be attacked at that time. And the interim period can be used to prepare for such a possible operation.

Regarding Egypt, the armed forces pose one force constraining the Islamists. The election of a non-Islamist president (Amr Moussa) in June is another one. There are many things that can — in some cases are — being done to deal with this threat. Unfortunately, the U.S. government isn’t doing them and in fact is helping the “bad guys.”

In conclusion, let me lay down some proposed rules:

Forget about your political view or the view of the writer/speaker. Is their description of reality accurate? Does it take the facts into account and provide evidence? Does it ignore or conceal evidence that undermines their thesis? Is the argument persuasive? Does it successfully answer criticisms of the claims being made? If so, then that person is right. You may then proceed to draw some conclusion about the proper response.

Is the policy response proposed merely a knee-jerk one based on a preexisting ideology, or does it make sense? Is it creative? Does it deal with the nuances of the problem? What aspects of the problem wouldn’t it solve? Would it make things worse in some ways, including unintended consequences?

In other words, don’t ignore reality because you don’t like others’ proposed solutions. Even worse, don’t ignore reality because it conflicts with your preexisting ideological assumptions. If necessary, change your assumptions. [to paraphrase Ayn Rand: You can ignore reality, but not the consequences of ignoring reality-- David]

(If you are interested: after laying things out this way to my colleague, we had a useful discussion and found that we could agree on a lot of things that didn’t fit narrow stereotypes of how people think nowadays.)

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His book, Israel: An Introduction, will be published by Yale University Press in January. Latest books include The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center is at http://www.gloria-center.org and of his blog, Rubin Reports,http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com

Prepper Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Survivor) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:35:00 +0000

Book Review - The Unthinkable - by Amanda Ripley

noreply@blogger.com (Survivor) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Review: Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener

noreply@blogger.com (David L) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:32:00 +0000

Review: Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener

See: http://www.wickededgeusa.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=82. There is a lot of good information there, plus a forum of users.

Being somewhat geeky, I recently purchased the Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener, “Pro-Pack” along with an additional sets of 800/100 diamond ‘stones’ and a set of ceramic ‘stones’ for curved blades for an embarrassingly large amount of money, even on sale. But hey, I have bought some expensive knives and if added up, there is far more money invested in the knives than the sharpener. Rationalization is a wonderful tool.

The adage, “Cry once, buy once” that fits this purchase. I have a few sharpening systems, among others the Spyderco crocksticks and a DMT, both for well under $100. They both put a nice edge on a knife, but nothing eye-popping amazing. What is nice about those systems is that they are small and easily thrown in knapsack or bag. The WEPS is definitely a base-camp or home unit.

The WEPS puts on a beyond professional sharpened edge on my knives. Amazing results on both a functional level and an esthetic level; elegant.

There is a learning curve but it is a gentle curve; the first knife I sharpened came out sharper and better looking than any previous attempt on other systems. I’ve done about 10 knives so far and the results keep improving and the thrill is just beginning. I’m pestering friends to sharpen their knives.

I ordered mine through a distributor, oldawan.com. Nice easy transaction and fast delivery. Wicked Edge was having some delays but may soon be up to date .

The WEPS is elegant, it has the look, feel and function of a precision instrument. It is. You have a few choices for the base to mount the clamp. I regret not spending a few more (fiat) dollars and getting one of the heavy granite ones. The clamp, now secured on the base, is the backbone of the system. It doesn’t move. You can pick up the the whole thing by lifting the handle of the knife. Impressive.

The clamp is similar to the Lansky and other systems, just beefier and more precise. Place the blade in (more on this later), snug up the top screw, then tighten the lower screw. The hardened aluminum clamp holds the blade nicely. If the spine part of the blade is not 90*, the clamps often have a hard time tight and some sort of insert needs to placed between the knife and the vise arms. Many use foamy double sided tape or chamois cloth to take up the space between the right angles of the vise arms and the angled spine.

Some attention needs to used to properly center the blade fore and aft; my first few knives were clamped too close to the heel of the knife which resulted in a wider bevel along the curved portion of the knife as compared to the straight part. Alignment stayed true. It is more of an aesthetic issue than functional.

Underneath the vise part of the base are two symmetric arms that jut out and are inscribed in 1 degree hash marks labeled from 15 to 30 degrees. There are little divots in the sides of the stationary arms to screw the operating rods in tight.These are just estimations as mounting the blade higher or lower in the clamp will change the angle a bit. This is why you see folks on the Wicked Edge forum talking about the ‘Angle Cube” readings -- some (yeah, me too) measure the actual angle verses the indicated angle.

Now we talk about the rods, the parts I think ‘make’ the WEPS. At this point take a break and watch a few youtube videos on the sharpener sent in by happy users with more technological prowess than I. But then, I can hit their video camera at 500 yards with my 308, so there. The rods pivot across the blade and the stones move up and down. This elegant set up keeps the stone at the same angle along the edge. Its like comparing a straight line drawn with a ruler versus freehand. Additionally, you do a stroke on the right side, then the left side, keeping things even. Try doing this with a Lansky or freehand! Or you can do 5 or 10 strokes on one side to check burr development on the other. No comparison. End of story.

The basic system comes with 2 pairs of stones, each pair has 2 grits. 100, 200, the other 400 and 600. These let you reprofile an edge (eg: a 20* angel from the manufacturer and you take it down to 15*) and take it to more than adequate sharpness. It doesn’t quite take you to the mirror edge I love to see (and use), so I got the Pro System which includes 800 and 1000 grit stones and leather strops (5/3.5 micron (flippin’ microns!) and paste. Using all the stones (not the strops) puts a glowing edge on knives and using the lower angles, will slice through paper using only the weight of the blade. The strops add some sharpness but for me, its the aesthetic of a truly mirror finish. Place the edge on a printed page, you can read the letters. Cool.

The sharpening process is best viewed on youtube or the Wicked Edge site. The instructions are also available under “Instructions” under “Resources”. Basically, place the blade in the clamp on the depth guide with the alignment guide in place, and tighten. If this makes no sense to you, you didn’t read the instructions! What I do then, I learned from the Wicked Edge site. I take a magic marker and draw it down the existing edge, essentially painting the bevel. I lightly run a stone across the now painted edge and see where the marker is removed. This allows a good visual check on how the stones remove the metal along the curved portion of the blade so that you don’t develop an much wider bevel along the curve. See “Finding the Sweet Spot - Positioning Your Knife Front to Back” under Directions under Resources on their web site. It also allows you to visually determine you’ve developed a burr.

To fully benefit from the WEPS, you may need to brush up on your knife sharpening theory. Google “Experiments on Knife Sharpening John D. Verhoeven Emeritus Professor Department of Materials Science and Engineering Iowa State University Ames, IA” -- electron micrographs!! And also look at the less high-brow http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/26036-knife-maintenance-and-sharpening/. The bottom line, the sharper, the less durable and the more durable, the less sharp. You will need to make compromises, a 15* angle on a little pocket knife is fine, but such an acute angle does not belong a camping knife that you baton the occasional log or use like a machete. If you’re going to drop the fiat $$$ on this system, read the two. You may also be interested in taking a look at http://sharpeningtechniques.blogspot.com/ (by the developer of the WEPS). If these don’t hold your interest, then the WEPS may not be for you.

The advantages of the WEPS is found in their name -- precision. Add on sharpening both sides simultaneously (less time) and the ability to get as fancy as you want. Great customer service (I stripped a bolt as I often do, and at first they sent a replacement screw, then I got a letter that they thought that perhaps the arm threading caused the problem and sent a replacement arm with its screw, both completely free of charge.

Disadvantages. Hmmm. It’s not easily taken when camping. But then, I knew that. At best, it’s a base camp item rather than back packing item. Big deal. The knives sharpened with the WEPS holds their edge very, very well and any touch ups needed should be taken care of by a smaller, more portable system.

Is it right for you? A few hundred dollars for a sharpener? Either a waste of money or a bargain depending on your likes. I like a sharp knife and no system I’ve used has come close. It’s a pleasure to use. It’s a pleasure to look at the results. I just don’t like the bald spots on my arms where I test the edge.... If you enjoyed the paper Experiments on Knife Sharpening, then I think it will be money well-spent.

For pics of the WEPS system, please go to their site and to youtube.

Mirror edge on a cheap ChiCom knife