Cannibalism on display

I've said it before, and it's time to say it again:

The Democrats are eating their young.

Watching today's marathon pissing match among members of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee -- with supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton doing virtually all of the pissing -- has been a real treat.

Puerile tantrums from the likes of Harold Ickes guarantee that it'll take Herculean spin to salvage party unity, even the perception of unity. And no one should be surprised if Sen. Clinton keeps kicking this dead ass all the way to the convention in Denver.

Candor liberated

A soon-to-be-released memoir by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan confirms what many of us already know -- that the Bush administration employs a “permanent campaign approach” to paper-over its incompetence.

The book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception, chronicles more than just a disengaged President.

"I still like and admire President Bush. But he and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war. In this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security.”

Another excerpt.

"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

"There was one problem. It was not true.

"I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself."

McClellan knows that incompetence and propaganda cannot flourish unless given permission to do so, and he acknowledges the absence of scrutiny.

"If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to the most important decision facing the nation during my years in Washington, the choice over whether to go to war in Iraq.
“The collapse of the administration’s rationales for war, which became apparent months after our invasion, should never have come as such a surprise. In this case, the ‘liberal media’ didn't live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served.”

Is McClellan's book a scathing indictment of the Bush administration? Absolutely. Does it paint an embarrassing picture of the news media? Sure.

If that's all we see, however, we miss the point. This chain of evidence leads past the President and his cronies, past the press, and lands in a pile at our feet.

The empty suit that occupies the Oval Office wasn't self-appointed -- he was elected (and re-elected).

His propaganda campaigns? They've worked. His policies, along with hundreds of billions in funding, have been rubber-stamped by legislators that we don't hold accountable.

And as long as the media serves us a steady diet of Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith, we don't much care what else they do.

We truly do get the government we deserve.

This weekend, remember

There's a reason we have three days off at the end of May -- and it has nothing to do with water parks, barbecues and auto racing.

I urge every American to take the first minute of every day this weekend to remember our fallen warriors. Fly the flag. Visit a veterans cemetery. Attend a ceremony at the local VFW post.

Remember.

They gave their last full measure of devotion to preserve our freedoms. Acknowledging their sacrifice is the least we can do.

From the writings of John Adams

"Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it."

(in a letter to Abigail Adams, April 26, 1777)

Paying for a pulse

For the last few months, some Georgia high-school students have earned eight dollars an hour to attend study sessions.

Handing teenagers cash for actual academic achievement would be disturbing enough -- but these leeches-in-training were rewarded for the simple act of showing up.

I can't think of a better way to cultivate a ravenous appetite for government entitlements, at the expense of encouraging the ethics of hard work and accomplishment.

Don't blame the kids. The real oxygen thieves here are the sponsors and supporters of this idiotic program, along with the community that allowed it to poison further our nation's future.

Local government at work

In Central Ohio today, there was a reported eight-minute delay between the National Weather Service issuing a tornado warning and the sounding of the first tornado sirens, which are activated by the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency.

Why?

According to the agency's deputy director, the EMA emergency-communications center isn't staffed weekends and holidays.

Wait -- there's more.

He further explained that, "The unfortunate thing was normally we have a tornado watch, which gives us a little bit of time to know that something might pop up. Unfortunately, this time there was nothing before the warning..."

Yet another reason not to rely on our bureaucrats and elected officials.

Hoosiers & Tar Heels

Two days ago, skeptical about voters' ability to see through Sen. Hillary Clinton's pandering, I made a pessimistic prediction:

"(Sen. Clinton will) likely win Indiana and she'll make it close in North Carolina."

I'm glad to say that yesterday's results proved quite the opposite -- Sen. Barack Obama trounced Sen. Clinton 56%-42% in North Carolina and lost the Indiana primary by just two points.

I'm seldom encouraged by our sheepish electorate, but today I am.

Because Sen. Obama is addicted to entitlements and has a record of undermining American citizens' Second Amendment rights, he won't get my vote in November. But for the sake of our country and the upcoming conversation about its future, I believe it's in our national interest that he wins the Democratic Party nomination.

Lou Dobbs: Populist or parody?

Watching "Lou Dobbs Tonight" is a daily ritual for me. I like Lou Dobbs.

Check that -- I want to like Lou Dobbs.

I respect his record of independent thought, and I happen to agree with his fundamental positions on illegal immigration and other issues.

Problem is, Lou is becoming more parodical every day, as if he's bucking for a prime-time slot on Cartoon Network. The more seriously he takes himself, the less seriously I can take what he says.

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be.

"We know things are bad -- worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.'

"Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot -- I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad!"

No, Lou Dobbs didn't say that -- it was Howard Beale, "Mad Prophet of the Airwaves," in the eerily prescient 1976 movie Network.

These days, though, Lou Dobbs is sounding a lot like Howard Beale. He proclaims himself a populist for populism's sake, regularly citing Sen. Hillary Clinton -- of all people -- as a prime example. He summons righteous anger because his formula calls for anger -- and, of course, he must use the word "unconscionable" at least three times during his allotted hour.

Along with the host, every segment, guest and "poll" tilts madly toward the formula. Lou doesn't purport to offer a pure news program, mind you, but what he's doing isn't commentary, either. It's not advocacy. It sure isn't populism and, sadly, its independence is strained.

It is, in a word, thin and getting thinner. It's disappointing to see such a capable independent citizen-patriot become a caricature of his former self.

Fools' Holiday

When Democrats cast their ballots in tomorrow's Indiana and North Carolina primaries, many will be voting on Republican Sen. John McCain's "gas-tax holiday" proposal -- either aye (for Sen. Hillary Clinton) or nay (for Sen. Barack Obama).

Sure, Sen. Clinton tweaked Sen. McCain's original plan by making those "big oil companies" pick up the tab. Either way, however, the "gas-tax holiday" proposal is pure, unfiltered, Grade A crap.

First, such a plan has no shot at being enacted before the summer travel season. Second, if it were, oil companies surely would shift higher costs onto the consumer. And third, each motorist's three-month savings would amount to little more than a financial crumb -- about two hand-tossed pizzas (delivered) and a case of beer.

It's meaningless gimmickry, and countless financial analysts have said as much. Hell, anyone with a working calculator can figure that out.

Because most voters are easily fooled, of course, the proposed shell game is actually working for Sen. Clinton. She'll likely win Indiana and she'll make it close in North Carolina.

Maybe pandering shouldn't move voters, but it does. Maybe voters should be smarter, but we aren't. And maybe we don't like foolery in our politics, but as long as we keep voting for it, that's what we're going to get.

Pierce's perspective

"After the White House, what is there to do but drink?"

(Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States, the only elected president who wasn't nominated by his party for a second term)

If you listen carefully...

...you'll hear the distinctive sound of a toilet flushing.

It's the sound of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign circling the bowl, thanks to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Sure, the First Amendment to the Constitution grants each of us the right to free speech. Unfortunately for Sen. Obama, that right extends to -- and over the last several days was exercised fully by -- a narcissistic and arrogant old preacher.

Like sheep, Rev. Wright appears to have only two speeds: graze and stampede.

Make no mistake, Rev. Wright is a spellbinding orator and a brilliant theologian. And, truth be told, I have no quarrel with many of his substantive points. But he's at least smart enough to have predicted the effect of his re-emergence on Sen. Obama's aspirations.

Cynics may say that the sabotage was intentional, on the grounds that Rev. Wright's stock-in-trade is appealing to his downtrodden race, and it'd be difficult to claim oppression with parishioner Obama in the Oval Office.

This time, the cynics may be right.

Island, Life

It happens every four years.

No, not the presidential election -- I'm talking about the quadrennial whining over politics polluting the Olympic Games.

Ritual foolishness.

What is it about us that insists on purity? Are we deluded or just naive?

Everyone seems to want their own island. Those FLDS folks in Texas built a sprawling, 1,900-acre island, a super-size gated enclave, to escape our beastly society.

Every sports venue has seating reserved for homers, and woe be to visitors who have tickets in enemy territory. Clubs have memberships. Suburban homes have fences. Cities establish crime-free zones, while street gangs defend their criminal turf.

Racial segregation, in the days when it had the state's imprimatur, was the ultimate misguided pursuit of purity. Today, curiously, purity-of-integration is the holiest of grails -- and the oxymoronic "pure diversity" explains why racial tension still exists.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 shattered Americans' illusion of island life -- but only temporarily. We've become complacent once again, losing sight of this fundamental truth:

There are no islands.

Borders will be ignored, oceans crossed and walls breached. Rules will be broken, papers counterfeited and signatures forged. Values, the sole property of a single person, most assuredly will not be shared by others.

And someone wearing the rival's colors will sit in the home stands.

We'll continue to build our islands, of course, convincing ourselves that we've created pure, "just so" places in the world. And that's fine -- as long as we see our islands for what they are.

Daydreams.

On notice: So this is the status quo?

Sifting through this week's news, several things caught my attention.

Off-the-clock in Iraq
According to in-country reports on U.S. troops' support of Iraqi forces in Basra, recently an Iraqi captain complained to an American officer that he didn't "have enough men" to neutralize opposition snipers. The American officer insisted that the Iraqis must take point, and the reluctant captain sulked off.

The U.S. platoon waited...and waited...for the Iraqis to advance. Upon asking an interpreter where the Iraqis were, the U.S. officer was told, "Oh, they went to lunch."

And we're expecting these people to "stand up"?

Breaking for lunch may be a sign of progress, I suppose, if only in comparison to the estimated 1,000 Iraqis who outright deserted in mid-battle the week before.

Homeland security, San Francisco-style
Two days before the Olympic torch was to arrive in San Francisco, and despite foreshadowing protests in France and the U.K., three demonstrators successfully scaled cables on the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled two large pro-Tibet banners.

Bridge-management officials -- who, by the way, were eyeing closed-circuit camera feeds at the time -- said they didn't realize that the trio were about to climb the cables because they were dressed in "ordinary" clothing and concealed their gear in a baby stroller.

Sure, banners and flags are harmless and this was a peaceful protest, but...are you thinking what I'm thinking? Do I really need to say it out loud?

I didn't think so.

Latter-day rehearsal
Prompted by the pleas of a 16-year-old child bride, federal and state authorities surrounded and entered the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints "ranch" in Eldorado, Texas. So far, more than 400 FLDS women and children have been removed from the compound, ostensibly for questioning in connection with sexual-abuse and weapons charges.

I have no stomach for the FLDS's culture of misogyny, denial of free will and rampant exploitation of children. And I'm not saying that Eldorado is comparable to Waco.

Not yet, anyway.

It's worth noting, however, that authorities' actions were selective, swift and overwhelming. Largely unnoticed is the fact that this situation has created more than 400 refugees -- perhaps temporarily, perhaps permanently. And for those who still believe that they can fortress themselves against official intervention, Eldorado is yet another woozy canary.

Pumping the brakes
We can stop debating whether or not the U.S. economy is in recession -- obviously, we passed that marker months ago.

As former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich said this morning, recession isn't necessarily a braking zone.

"...we are going to go into 2009 with a serious recession. ... You've got food and energy prices, fuel prices going way way up. You've got wages stuck. You've got people who are losing their jobs. You've got housing prices going down. I mean, it's pretty bad."

Reich also offered this ominous observation:

"I think there's no more than 20 percent chance of a depression."

Now that's encouraging.

The pages of The Wall Street Journal and Fortune aren't good places to take the pulse of our economy, and "economic indicators" fly far too high to be useful. Likewise, one's own personal financial agony or ecstasy is too grounded, merely anecdotal.

Economic reality lies somewhere in between the analyst and the checkbook -- it resides in the collective experience of everyday American workers, the cogs in the grand economic machine.

If you work in retail, for example, what has your company been doing lately? Cutting prices or raising them? Not replacing terminated or retired workers? Asking employees to dim store lights or forgo double-bagging? How do this year's sales at your store compare to last year's numbers?

When we gather and stew that kind of real-world information, it's clear that this bubble-gum-and-string economy is headed for an unprecedented fall -- and everyone knows it.

Oh, snap!
With the possible exception of the so-called "housing crisis," the most serious financial blow to Americans is the high price of gasoline and other petro-products -- which affects, of course, the price of virtually everything else we consume.

When our government or an oil company assures us that "it could be worse," they're probably referring to gas prices in other countries. But I contend that there's something else that demands our attention, even our personal preparedness.

Take a look at this chart. The red line tracks the price of regular unleaded gas since April of 2002, and the blue line follows the price of crude oil over the same six-year period. Notice the widening gap between the two prices, especially over the last 12 months.

Commodities are elastic. Something -- either oil or gasoline -- has got to give. Will we be ready when it snaps?

Charlton Heston: 1924-2008

Charlton Heston died yesterday.

He was a passionate defender of American citizens' right to keep and bear arms and, of course, I admired him for that. What's often forgotten, however, is that he was actively involved in the civil-rights movement in the 1960s, as well as other causes that many would consider decidedly less "conservative" than his Second Amendment stand.

Heston carried his own compass and charted his own course, unfettered by labels. His values were his values.

What I take from his example is that there's still a place for independent citizen-patriots, the square pegs in this simple-minded, round-hole society.

Godspeed, Mr. Heston.

On notice: Graduation rates

Everyone knows that education in this country is in trouble, and according to a report released this week by America's Promise Alliance, the situation is far more dire than I'd imagined.

The report, Cities in Crisis, reveals that more than three out of ten American high-school students don't graduate.

As disturbing as that is, the news gets worse from there.

In urban districts, the graduation rate is just 60.4%. Columbus, Ohio's schools graduate only four out of ten. Graduation rates in Baltimore and Cleveland are a shade over 34%, while Indianapolis comes in at 30.5%. In Detroit, it's an appalling 25%.

You read that right -- only one out of every four Detroit students graduates from high school.

For a moment, try to wrap your brain around the fact that fully 75% of that city's 18-year-olds enter society without a high-school education. Nationally, 40% of the city kids you meet are -- or will be -- high-school dropouts.

I don't care to join the hand-wringing over the reasons why this is so, nor am I interested in discussing solutions. Explanations, however plausible, are pointless; proposals, however laudable, are futile.

To put a fine point on my pessimism, I believe that our nation is looking at a future dominated by handout-hungry Americans. Right now these parasites have us pinned down; soon, I predict, we'll be overrun.

I have no confidence in our ability to deny entitlements to the undeserving. I don't believe that we have the national will to overhaul our education system.

Until parents and families -- not schools -- get about the business of preparing children for life, this country has no shot at a better future.


Read the report: Cities in Crisis: A Special Analytical Report on High School Graduation (pdf)

Where there's smoke

It's been over a year since health Nazis convinced voters to pass our statewide smoking ban.

For my wife and me, both smokers, going out to dinner hasn't been the same since -- so these days we rarely do.

It looks like we're not alone in waxing nostalgic over the after-dinner cigarette. Business is suffering at once-packed restaurants and bars. Even the courts and public-health officials are annoyed -- reportedly, every time a smoker appeals a $100 fine, it costs the government thousands of dollars just to make it stick.

A state statute designed, in theory, to protect us from ourselves and reduce health-care costs has, in practice, chipped away yet another right from free citizens, been bad for business, clogged the courts and cost the state untold millions.

One more big win for those who know best.

Last night, my wife and I climbed aboard the WABAC Machine when, by invitation, we walked into the smoke-filled atmosphere of a pub in a neighboring town.

Ashtrays graced the bar and tables. The front door was open to the main street, almost daring passers-by to call the county health department -- or to join us for a beer and a smoke.

An odd coexistence of civil disobedience and social intercourse, and it felt just right.

Such libertarian establishments are just as rare as further infringement of our freedoms is certain. Perhaps someday we'll untangle this increasingly repressive society but, sadly, the trend is moving in the opposite direction.

Pulse check: Campaign 2008

The Democrats are eating their young.

In an election year tailor-made for a Democratic walk-over, Hillary Clinton is giving new meaning to "blind ambition" -- if she can't win the nomination, by Christ, no Barack-come-lately is going to win it, either. Aided by scorched-earth surrogates, Sen. Clinton is obsessed with gutting and dividing her party, in the process weakening Democrats' chances in November.

The ruthlessness is breathtaking.

Predictably, Sen. Obama's high-road strategy is crumbling under siege. And party chair Howard Dean is powerless (which isn't really news).

Gov. Bill Richardson, he of Pres. Bill Clinton's administration, endorsed Sen. Obama and was labeled "Judas" by Clinton attack-dog James Carville. When given a chance to soften his incendiary comment, Carville responded:

“I was quoted accurately and in context, and I was glad to give the quote and I was glad I gave it. I’m not apologizing, I’m not resigning, I’m not doing anything.”

You gotta love it when a talking head doesn't backpedal.

Meantime, we're all trying to figure out how Sen. Clinton can repeatedly recount ducking snipers' bullets in Bosnia and then, when confronted by video showing that a Bosnian child handed her a bouquet of flowers and read her a poem, say this:

"I misspoke."

When Sen. John McCain said that Iran is aiding Sunni militants in Iraq, he misspoke. (Iran is helping Shiite extremists.) When Sen. Obama said he'd discuss trade with "the president of Canada," he misspoke. (Canada has a prime minister, not a president.)

Sen. Clinton didn't misspeak. She exaggerated for political advantage -- period. No other explanation passes The Smell Test.

Any citizen with an ounce of independence now should question her assertions of "35 years of experience" -- along with the rest of the posing, pandering and posturing we hear from the world of politics.

With apologies to Jack Cafferty, it is indeed getting ugly out there.

Bugging, Part IV: The Right Stuff

Considering what's at stake when preparing for the worst, it's no surprise that people are constantly looking for the perfect, ideal or ultimate something-or-other -- as if owning the best is some sort of talisman against misfortune.

Sure, some gear is better than other gear, and preparedness does involve putting together the right stuff. An unrestrained "shopping list mentality," however, misses this fundamental point:

The best SHTF stuff available is the stuff I have when the SHTF.

Not having the ideal stuff becomes so much spilled milk then, doesn't it? At that moment, what I have is what I have. It must be as capable and as reliable as it can be, and I need to know just how good it is.

Don't skip over that last point. I'm talking about testing -- actually using -- my SHTF stuff and, more important, developing the skills and ability to use it well.

If I own a genuine Swedish Army firesteel but haven't used it to start a fire in the pouring rain, I'm putting my family's survival at risk. Without training and practice, my tacticool carbine becomes about as useful as a Louisville Slugger. If I'm in poor physical shape, my mountain bike isn't going to be much good as SHTF transportation.

Singer, not song.

Although my family's kit comprises the best stuff we can justify, I lose no sleep pining for ideal SHTF gear, nor do I consider us somehow doomed or defenseless without it. I believe we're better off acquiring stuff that's capable and reliable, then acquiring the skills to use it effectively -- beginning with familiarity, striving for proficiency, and pursuing mastery.

Bugging, Part I: Securing the Castle
Bugging, Part II: My Tin Hat
Bugging, Part III: In or Out?

Bugging, Part III: In or Out?

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
Should I stay or should I go? (The Clash)

Many of us consider evacuation more likely than it actually is.

Outside of the geographic areas that regularly deal with floods, wildfires, hurricanes and other natural hazards, in most crises the vast majority of Americans should stay put, at least in the short term.

Whatever the crisis, whether my family stays or goes, our over-riding concern will be our own safety, survival and defense. Those considerations -- not sentiment or the well-meaning advice of public officials -- will drive our decisions.

What's more, altruism and benevolence have no place in our plan. Sound selfish? You bet it is -- becoming a charity during a serious crisis is akin to committing suicide.

Let the prepared survive.

Stocked for Survival
Naturally, our home holds the largest stores of what we'd need to survive for an extended period:

• Water, or the ability to gather & purify water
• Food, or the ability to gather & prepare food
• Shelter & warmth, or the ability to find shelter & create warmth
• Tools
• First aid & medical
• Communications
• Defense

I won't include a detailed checklist here -- that's not really the point of this installment, and besides, each of us has different needs -- but I do suggest taking full advantage of the WWWeb. Among the resources we've found useful:

• Ready.gov
• FEMA
• American Red Cross
• PandemicFlu.gov
• State, county & municipal homeland-security & emergency-management agencies
• Preparedness & survival forums
• Survival books
• Military field manuals

We prefer to download Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf) files whenever possible, saving them for later reference offline.

There's No Place Like Home
Where we live, there are few reasons that my family and I would need to "bug out." As described in Part II, we've researched hazards and threats, and we've concluded that our best shelter and most defensible position is right here -- what's known as shelter-in-place.

Safety, survival and defense become more difficult while on the move and, ideally, most everything is simpler in familiar surroundings -- by itself, that's reason enough to shelter-in-place. In addition, our home is well-equipped and well-stocked, and yes, we know what it can provide, but we've gone beyond everyday familiarity and stockpiling.

Within a two-mile radius of our home, for example, we know where natural water supplies are located. (We're mindful, of course, that surface water may not be an option under some circumstances.) In the same area, we know where we can forage for edible plants and hunt game. We've practiced small-scale sustenance gardening, with the goal of expanding it if the need arises. And since the nature of home defense changes during a prolonged crisis, we've created a precise map of the perimeter around our home, out to 600 yards.

The last point I'll make is the need, in my opinion, to keep a low profile. Since most people won't be adequately prepared for a crisis, the quickest way for a prepared family to become a target family would be to shelter-in-place with generator whirring, house lights aglow, and gas-fired grill sizzling on the deck -- dumb and dangerous.

Time to Go

"Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man." (Gen. George S. Patton)

A stay-or-go "pivot point" may present itself at the outset of a crisis, or something may force our hand later, or it may not happen at all.

If we do choose to leave our home behind, we'll make that decision because it's in the best interest of our family's safety, survival and defense. We won't leave because everyone around us is leaving, and we won't stay for sentimental reasons.

That said, we've prepared for two bug-out scenarios: Light (one or two people) and Full (family).

Our grab-and-go packs are subsets of our shelter-in-place stores. Each member of our family has ultra-minimalist kit for a light evacuation. Obviously and necessarily, we'd tote more in a full bug-out. Again, our supplies include provisions for water, food, shelter, etc.

We've mapped primary and contingency routes, rendezvous sites and retreat locales, along with potential hazards and threats -- a calculated bug-out, if you will, not a random dash. Our destinations do not include public shelters -- we refuse, categorically, to join the masses of refugees who chose not to prepare.

Note that I haven't mentioned the word "evacuation" to describe my family's plans. We prefer to call it "bug-out" or "retreat," because we have our own routes and destinations. Despite the fact that we may be putting distance between ourselves and a threat or a hazard, we'd be moving toward something, not merely running away.

Bugging home
Finally, here's an often-ignored piece of the preparedness puzzle: the virtual certainty that our family won't be conveniently assembled when the SHTF. I may be at home, my wife at work, the spawns at school.

That's when preparedness planning becomes especially crucial. Everyone must know the plan and execute their responsibilities -- no freelancing. My wife will bug home if she can; ideally, she'll pick up the spawns on her way. If it's apparent that shelter-in-place is impossible and a bug-out is called for, the drill is to follow the primary route and try to assemble at established checkpoints.

And so on.

Of course, as countless military leaders have observed, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

Still, whether we stay or go, we're glad that we have a plan.

We hope we never have to use it.


Bugging, Part I: Securing the Castle
Bugging, Part II: My Tin Hat
Bugging, Part IV: The Right Stuff

Bugging, Part II: My Tin Hat

A few weeks ago, my older spawn presented me with my very own tinfoil hat.

Okay, I do spend a fair amount of time preparing myself and my family to survive under less-than-ideal circumstances. That's because I believe that the future, whatever it looks like, will belong to those who prepare -- not out of unchecked cynicism, but with a firm grip on the risks present in today's world.

Some among us are obsessed with Red Dawn scenarios, SHTF, TEOTWAWKI and the like. I don't (and won't) belittle those folks -- in fact, I've learned a lot from their approach to preparedness. I've just attacked it a bit differently.

The Mindset
Everyday life has a set of rules and resources dictated by personal obligations and societal norms. My fundamental responsibility is to function and prosper in that context.

For me, preparation happens within the context of everyday life, not at its expense -- that is, I don't live each day as if it's TEOTWAWKI, but I know what I need to do to prepare and survive.

I live my life, taking advantage of its opportunities, neither paranoid nor naive.

The Lay of the Land
It's tempting (and typical) to begin the preparedness process with a shopping list and an evacuation route, ignoring what I believe is the first and most important step: assessing risk.

So, with the invaluable aid of Google and Microsoft Streets & Trips, I've plotted relevant risks, hazards and resources.

What could possibly threaten my peaceful rural-suburban home in the Midwest? In terms of natural hazards:

• Tsunami: No risk.
• Hurricane: No risk.
• Wildfire: Negligible risk.
• Earthquake: Negligible risk.
• Landslide: No risk.
• Tornado: Moderate risk.
• Flood: Moderate risk in the surrounding area; negligible risk to my home.

That list is obvious and straightforward. Now, what man-made characteristics could pose a risk?

• Rail: Two active freight lines pass through the 10-mile radius around my home, running a total of 42 miles in length, with one coming as close as 1.25 miles and the other 2 miles away. Also, there's a major rail yard 10 miles WNW.
• Airports: A major airport lies 10 miles NW, and another is 10 miles WSW; the latter is the preferred arrival-and-departure point for high-ranking government officials and other dignitaries, since it shares facilities with an Air National Guard base. There's also a small airport 10 miles SE.
• Power plants, nuclear: None within 150 miles.
• Power plants, coal: One, 15 miles WSW.
• Utility transmission, electricity: One 345kV+ high-tension run passes within 1.5 miles.
• Utility transmission, natural gas: One large transmission line passes within a half-mile of my home; a major pipeline passes 45 miles SE.
• Municipal water supplies: Three well-sites within 5 miles; five water-storage towers within 5 miles.
• Biohazards: A sewage-treatment facility 0.5mi N.
• Radiation hazards: None within 25 miles; numerous nuclear pharmacies and two NRC-regulated sites within 35 miles.
• Military: An Air National Guard base 10 miles WSW, and a major national-defense supply depot 10 miles NW. Numerous bases, installations and armories within 50 miles.
• Other: After a local televangelist recently called for the destruction of Islam, his statements appeared widely in the Arab media. His church's two large facilities are 1.5 miles and 3.5 miles NW of my home.

I'm willing to bet that most of my neighbors are largely unaware of what surrounds us. Most people either don't care or don't take the time to find out.

For example, there's a major NSA listening post nestled deep in the West Virginia mountains, and yet most of the locals (like most Americans) remain blissfully ignorant -- a common mistake and, in my opinion, a dangerous one. I do my best to avoid making it.

Finally, I've identified various emergency-assistance resources in close proximity to my home, keeping in mind that some of these services (or all of them) may be unavailable in an emergency situation:

• Tornado sirens: Two within 5 miles, with the closest 1.5 miles away.
• Fire/EMS: Five stations within 5 miles, with the closest 2 miles' travel.
• Law enforcement: Four stations within 5 miles, with the closest 2 miles' travel.
• Medical: The closest hospital is 10 miles' travel; there are two urgent-care clinics, three medical-arts facilities and at least six pharmacies within 5 miles.
• Food & provisions: Within a 5-mile radius are three large groceries, five mass-merchandisers and ten convenience stores. There are three produce farms within 10 miles.
• Defense: Three mass-merchandisers, both within 5 miles, sell ammunition; there are three FFL retailers within 10 miles, with the closest 5 miles away.
• Fuel: More than a dozen gas stations and five propane stations within 5 miles.

All of this information, taken together and especially in the face of a present danger, helps form the basis for every preparedness-and-survival decision that follows.

Bugging, Part I: Securing the Castle
Bugging, Part III: In or Out?
Bugging, Part IV: The Right Stuff