Sunday Morning Roundup: 1984 Edition

Here are some items you need to know about (if you've read George Orwell's 1984 you should have goosebumps by the end of this post):

• National ID Cards on the Way?
• HTPA: A Tutorial in Orwellian Newspeak
• Ron Paul's Take on the Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
• Call for Impeachment Hearings and the Corporate Media
• And the Daily Kos' Report on this Curious Black Hole
• Retroactive Immunity for Telecoms
• More Info on the Immunity Plan: The Lawless Surveillance State

Join the Party

Ron Paul's December 16th Tea Party has got people around the country pouring donations into his campaign. I must admit I'm fairly fascinated with the donation ticker on his website as well--it started at midnight with $11 million and by mid morning has surpassed $14 million in donations. There may be hope yet for a president who has actually read and understands the Constitution being elected to office...

How (Not) to Get Caught

Should there come a time when you decide to do something immoral, unethical, and/or illegal, at least take some basic steps so you won't get caught.

1. Do said activity alone. A "band of criminals" is a bad idea as one of the band is bound to tell someone (their spouse, a friend, the Feds) what happened. And you will be busted.
2. Don't leave a paper trail. An investigation is speeded right along with the help of shredded documents (which can be pieced back together), an armload of credit card receipts (ask a PI in a nasty divorce case), a parking ticket (serial killers have been busted this way), or--stupid is as stupid does--a "to do" list for how to commit a murder that is conveniently left by the perpetrator.
3. Loose lips sink ships. Don't let alcohol, pride, or a seductive woman get you to talk about said activities. You don't want your moment of indiscretion made into a movie of the week while you are rotting away in prison.
4. Don't put anything in writing, or worse, video. A simple stroll through You Tube will reveal a number of idiots who thought it would be a good idea to boast about their misdemeanors and felonies by video taping their actions and posting them for all (including the DA) to see. Stupid.
5. Have an alibi. While this may not get you off...and most alibis are shaky at best...at least it will be cause for doubt when the jury is deliberating.
6. Destroy evidence. By fire or other permanent measure is best. If I had a dime for every criminal who tossed a gun into a river...
7. Don't provide any evidence...keep your DNA, fingerprints, handwriting, printer or typewriter print, ballistic evidence, et. al. to yourself.
8. Be responsible for your own destiny. Following a "great plan" presented by your (habitually incarcerated) associate, helping with a "can't miss" scam, or becoming the puppet of someone richer, smarter, or more devious than yourself are all bad ideas. If you are going to do something, you need to devise, develop, and institute the plan yourself; with much foresight and by looking at it from all angles.
9. Consider alternatives. A hot and steamy affair with the office hottie or a quick romp with a prostitute? Cooking the office books or making (legitimate) money through investments? Murder or just a good ass kicking? There are always alternatives. Choose the alternative with the best ROI (return on investment) and least long term consequences.
10. Don't do it. The bottom line is that committing any sort of activity that causes you to have to follow the proceeding tips will cause you, at minimum, a great deal of stress. These activities can also cause regret, loss of esteem in the eyes of your peers, and occasionally a stiff jail sentence. So...just don't do it.

Top 10 Preparedness Tips

Being prepared for whatever life throws you is really quite simple...

1. Have at least a year's worth of expenses in a fairly liquid, diversified, savings vehicle (cash, gold, savings, CDs, etc).
2. Always have two, possibly three BOBs at the ready (one in your home, one in your car, and one in your office).
3. Prepare your home (everything from a year's worth of stored food to alternate water/cooking/heating systems to cleaned out, functional gutters...and everything in between). Prepare your car as well.
4. Be educated. Learn all that you can...it will probably come in handy during a disaster. Learn how to shoot, physically defend yourself, rappel down a rock face, tie knots, use a CB radio, ride a motorcycle, survive in the outdoors, use a computer...the list is basically endless.
5. Keep UP (on what is going on in your life/community/country/world), keep LOW (as in your profile in so far as the way you live your life).
6. Always be able to earn a living. Have skills, talents, or intellect that you can put to work to earn money, food, or a place to live if needed. Never rely on the government for support.
7. At least once a day play the "what if" game...what if this road was washed out, how would I get to my destination? What if there was a shooter at my children's school and I just heard about it on the radio? What if I had to evacuate this office/grocery store/library this very instant? Plan, drill, review, repeat.
8. Be as self-sufficient as possible. Grow/cook your own food. Take care of basic medical problems. Sew the button on your shirt. Cut your own fire wood. This list is endless too.
9. Never turn down an opportunity to travel, have a new experience, or meet new people. In all of these situations, you learn something about how things/people work which can be quite useful during a disaster.
10. Be well insured. Because you can't plan/pay for every disaster that may occur.

Conceal Your Email

From the "Think of the Possibilities" file...

Send anonymous emails from any address you make up at www.acebird.com (I sent myself a test email from the King of Spain and it looked correct).

On the other hand, you may want to check here:

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-track-the-original-location-of-an-email-via-its-ip-address/

to find out where your questionable email came from.

Notes from a Rain Storm (and Subsequent Flood)

So far this year we have had a windstorm and snowstorm. Rounding out the trifecta was a rain storm this weekend that soaked our region (and melted all of the snow) causing pretty big flooding problem in some areas. Here are some lessons learned:

• Know the roads in your area and have maps in your car. Many of the usual routes were inundated with water so alternate routes were the only way to get around.
• Don't drive through flooded roads. In a few cases, doing this led to a couple of minutes of airtime on the local news and no problems as the driver meandered through rain-swollen roads, in many other cases it led to cars being abandoned, flooded engines, people being rescued from car rooftops, and in some rare cases, cars were driven into what was assumed to be a few inches of water that actually turned out to be washed out roads and sink holes--these unlucky cars won't be seen again until the rain stops and the flooding subsides.
• Do as much pre-event prep as possible: clean out gutters, make sure the sump pump works, move animals to higher pasture, make sure any drainage problems are taken care of ASAP, have sand and sandbags at the ready if flooding is common in your area.
• At the risk of sounding like a broken record--have a well stocked BOB in your home and car. Some people had to evacuate at a moments notice, while other were stuck in their cars on closed highways for literally hours (a couple of freeways will be closed for days until repair work and/or flood waters can be taken care of). You need to be able to take care of yourself (food, water, amusements, etc.) for the duration of such events.
• Stay home. If your home is safe and secure, that is absolutely the best place to be. First, it alleviates added cars in what is already a mess of traffic; second, it keeps you from becoming stranded; third, it is (or should be) well stocked with all you would need to hunker down for days to weeks. There's no point in risking life and limb to get a dozen eggs, get to the office, or run to the video store.
• Have alternate forms of transportation available. During the worst of the flooding, motorcycles, bicycles and even (especially) rafts and canoes were far easier to use for transportation than cars.
• Don't buy or build in an area that floods. Duh. Every year, the same neighborhoods, the same houses, even the same people are interviewed on the news about the flood that just washed out the lower level of their homes. Obviously when buying a home or land take into consideration the likelihood of floods and mudslides (or any other natural disaster) before buying.
• Avoid wading through flood water (it can be contaminated with sewage and other nasty stuff).
• Keep up on what's happening. Our local news, radio news, and county DEM website all provide up to the minute information on conditions as they change.
• If your home does flood: turn off all utilities, raise things (furniture, etc) to higher ground, evacuate if necessary, don't use your well until the flood waters recede and the well has been decontaminated.