September 07, 2005

These apply to ANYTOWN, USA, and not just hurricane-harried Gulf-Coast towns:

1. Don’t count on federal or state aid to do ANYTHING.

2. Don’t count on local police to do ANYTHING (good).

3. Don’t count on local government honchos to do ANYTHING but whine.

4. Count on at least 5-10% of your community to turn into sub-human murderers, looters, rapists, and abusers, including a larger percentage of cops.

5. Count on having no electrical power, no water service, no natural gas service, and no wireline communications for a minimum of 7 days, and possibly for a month.

6. Count on having no cellular phone, wireless internet, or other wireless communications for a minimum of 10 days, or possibly for six weeks.

7. Count on having no communications at all except handheld FRS radios (and those only as long as you have batteries or the ability to recharge them by solar or hand-crank).

8. Count on having cops attempt to disarm you, either because they’ve gone completely bad or because they are afraid of you and the situation: a cop who doesn’t do this should be treated as the unexpected, pleasant surprise that he or she is.

9. Assume that whatever the location of your home or business, things could easily turn bad enough to require that you evacuate, with only what you can carry. Remember that life is more important than possessions. So have a place to go, in advance, to family, friends, or “paid” friends.

10. Assume that your friends, relatives, neighbors, and everyone else you know in the whole country is as bad off or worse than you are.

11. Assume that you will be vilified as a hoarder, an elitist pig, a racist (regardless of your skin color or ethnic background), and an evil, evil, callous person for being prepared and not giving everything you have to the grasshoppers who will come whining to you.

12. Assume that those pretty green pieces of paper in your wallet, to say nothing of the even prettier plastic cards in your wallet or purse, will be worth absolutely nothing except for starting a fire (green paper) or opening a stuck door latch (plastic).

13. Assume that such niceties as federal, state, and local law, including the state and federal Bill of Rights, will be about as valuable as those pieces of paper and plastic, unless you and your family and friends have the firepower to enforce them.

No, it is NOT a pretty picture, and you can be sure that the next disaster of this scale will be worse - and that even minor disasters, like the usual end-of-season hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, will be far worse because of panic and over reaction to this one.

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A Diatribe for Memorial Day

Baker’s Dozen- Tips for Rebuilding Dysfunctional Societies

Thoughts on Fathers' Day from a Libertarian

What now?
(Part I – Consequences)

What now? (Part II - Responses that won't work)

What now? (Part III – A Call to Action)

Churches and Concealed Carry

Why one libertarian doesn’t support Cindy Sheehan

Looters: The Low-down on the Low-down

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