Out Of The Closet At The Times

The Times runs some true confessions, bringing liberal gun nuts and New York area 'Preppers' out of the closet. Guns first:

Confessions of a Liberal Gun Owner

By JUSTIN CRONIN

BELLAIRE, Tex.

I AM a New England liberal, born and bred. I have lived most of my life in the Northeast — Boston, New York and Philadelphia — and my politics are devoutly Democratic. In three decades, I have voted for a Republican exactly once, holding my nose, in a mayoral election in which the Democratic candidate seemed mentally unbalanced.

I am also a Texas resident and a gun owner. I have half a dozen pistols in my safe, all semiautomatics, the largest capable of holding 20 rounds. I go to the range at least once a week, have applied for a concealed carry license and am planning to take a tactical training course in the spring. I’m currently shopping for a shotgun, either a Remington 870 Express Tactical or a Mossberg 500 Flex with a pistol grip and adjustable stock.

His motivation seems to be defense of his family in the event of a societal mini-crisis such as a hurricane in the Houston area. He provides bits of reassuring bonding with his liberal readeship, which creates some discordant moments. For example:

But in the weeks since Newtown, I’ve watched my Facebook feed, which is dominated by my coastal friends, fill up with anti-gun dispatches that seemed divorced from reality. I agree it would be nice if the world had exactly zero guns in it. But I don’t see that happening, and calling gun owners “a bunch of inbred rednecks” doesn’t do much to advance rational discussion.

In a self-defense context a world without guns would favor the hale and hearty over the older, the infirm, and women generally. Interestingly, the author reverses his field almost instantly, while describing his teen-age daughter's interest in guns:

This time, she asked to take a pistol lesson. She’s an NPR listener like me, but she’s also grown up in Texas, and the fact that one in five American women is a victim of sexual assault is not lost on her.

Grist for the liberal mill.

"Out of the Closet" weekend at the Times began with a long feature on New York area "Preppers":

New York hardly seems like a natural location for what has become known as the prepper movement, but in fact the city’s prepping community is not only large and remarkably diverse, its leaders say, it’s also growing rapidly.

To the unprepared, the very word “prepper” is likely to summon images of armed zealots hunkered down in bunkers awaiting the End of Days, but the reality, at least here in New York, is less dramatic. Local Preppers are doctors, doormen, charter school executives, subway conductors, advertising writers and happily married couples from the Bronx. They are no doubt people that you know — your acquaintances and neighbors. People, I’ll admit, like myself.

It isn’t easy being a Prepper these days. The discipline has taken blows from TV programs like “Doomsday Preppers,” which — despite its record ratings and recent episodes, like “Escape From New York” — is more or less a weekly invitation to laugh at lunatics tunneling into mountainsides to escape a Russian nuclear attack. Last month, a chill went through the movement when it turned out that the mother of Adam Lanza, the shooter in the Newtown, Conn., killings, was a Prepper. Even though prepping is increasingly visible in the culture — through meet-up groups, books, films and weekend retreats at which canning skills are learned — it continues to be thought of as a marginal and unseemly business, something on par with believing that the Bilderberg Group controls world events or that the government is hiding aliens at Area 51.

How times change. It was only a year ago that the Times was assuring its readers that Preppers are a bunch of racist rednecks eager to open fire on rioting black people. Now, a bit of preparedness prior to a "Sandy" type event doesn't seem so crazy. And as to Preppers being racist?

EARLY IN MY TRAVELS, I was told the man to see for a deeper understanding of prepping in New York was Aton Edwards, founder of the International Preparedness Network and author of the emergency survival guide “Preparedness Now!” Mr. Edwards, 51, is often called the city’s foremost expert in personal disaster preparation — he has appeared on the “Today” show, has taught his “Ready Up!” seminars to hundreds of participants with partners like the Red Cross and has set up, as part of the National Urban Self-Reliance and Preparedness Program, “incident command centers” across New York, like the one he recently created for the hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa in the Bronx.

...

It was not by chance, Mr. Edwards said, that prepping first took root in New York in the black community: he himself is black, and in the 1990s he became a frequent guest on “The Open Line,” a call-in radio show on the “urban adult” station WBLS. Around the same time, he started giving classes in disaster preparation at the National Action Network, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s civil rights group. “Obviously,” Mr. Edwards said, “because of our history, black folks know that bad things happen.”

These days, he added, the prepping movement is “the strangest mishmash of people you could ever find — black, white, men, women, everyone. It looks like America.”

The author even challenges the faith of secular liberals in their deity, 911:

I came across a news report about Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, whom Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had recently named to lead a commission investigating how ready the state was for another Hurricane Sandy-like emergency. I arranged an interview, figuring that he, if anyone, could answer my question [i.e., how much preparation is appropriate?].

...

“It’s impossible to forget that we live in a world vulnerable to hazards, man-made and natural,” he said. “So it’s legitimate to ask: What is the impact on individuals?”

His answer was squarely in line with Prepper doctrine. Dr. Redlener said it was rational — indeed, it was recommended — to have a three-day supply of food and water, a working flashlight, a first-aid kit, a radio that runs without batteries and a plan in place to rejoin one’s relatives after a disaster. He talked about situational awareness, a major Prepper mantra. “A prepared citizen is someone who understands how to take care of himself,” he said, “who has amassed the necessary items, who has a plan.”

When I asked about some of those I had met along the way — say, the geared-up 12-year-old, Leonardo Ruiz Jr., who, dropping his suspicions, later gave his name to a photographer — he gave a forbearing smile. “There’s a spectrum,” Dr. Redlener said. “On one end is mindless complacency. On the other is paranoia. The challenge is to find that place in the middle where you understand that bad things can happen, but it doesn’t consume your life.”

Then he surprised me. I had never heard even a quasi-government official admit that the authorities would not respond promptly in an emergency, but Dr. Redlener said that “gaps” existed during “mega-disasters,” hours, even days, when there might not be an official response.

“The well-being of many, many people in harm’s way will be dependent in those gaps on social networks, on community and on individual preparedness,” he said.

He added, aphoristically, “We are all first responders.”

He's from the government and he here to tell you to help yourself.

 

Comments

[fdcol63]

" .. Dr. Redlener said that “gaps” existed during “mega-disasters,” hours, even days, when there might not be an official response. ..."

This by itself justifies the possession of firearms adequate for personal defense.

[henry]

Urbanites are so weird. My rural neighbors all garden and can in the fall, then hunt / fish & freeze meat. They also stock up on firewood. This is normal pre-winter activity. Only city-slickers need a fancy name and official trend to do the basics.

[marlene]

First? Good Morning! What happened to common sense? A cupboard of canned goods,a first-aid kit,flashlights,battery operated radio and heaven forbid,a gun! That is a true confession?

[narciso]

You know Redleiner from earlier bouts like diagnosising Elian long distance saying he wanted to go home, and this ditty;

In May 2009, Redlener was appointed to the National Commission on Children and Disasters.[3] In 2010, in part due to his research on the health effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil,[4]the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Oil Drilling appointed Redlener to serve as the Commission’s Special Consultant on Public Health. [5]

[Rob Crawford]

Last month, a chill went through the movement when it turned out that the mother of Adam Lanza, the shooter in the Newtown, Conn., killings, was a Prepper.

I don't get this. Why should it matter? She wasn't the lunatic; she was his first victim. From what little we know, she was trying to do the right thing when he snapped.

Now, you want to find someone guilty, look at the mother of the guy who shot Giffords and the others. She covered for him. She used her political connections to keep him from getting the help he needed -- and as a result, people died.

That is what people should be ashamed of -- of being a Democrat government employee.

[marlene]

Third! People in Maine spend the summer getting ready for winter. A fun thing to do is to observe the unique ways that firewood can be stacked.

[narciso]

He was also part of Hillary's Health care task force having been a member of Psysichians for Social Responsibility. so what do you do, when
the government has not restored services in three months.

[Stephanie]

Liberals won't accept anything unless they can label it and pigeon hole it into a category . Once labeled, they have collectivized it and they can then assign it either victim or oppressor status and treat it accordingly . Anything not labeled is outside their ability to comprehend and thus must be suppressed . This is why individualism is such a threat .

[narciso]

Cronin's wordview, is sort of illustrated in his novel, in in how before the government discovers the vampires in Bolivia,
global warming has lead to super hurricanes, that have torn through Houston and New Orleans,

[narciso]

Peasants you go hang, but the zampolit, that's a different matter altogether;

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/above-the-law-media-matters-thug-david-brock-protected-with-illegal-weapons/

[Mark Folkestad]

I've had run-ins with people who hold you in contempt if you have more than one can of a specific item in your cupboard/pantry. The usual reaction involves horror that you are verging on hoarding. I simply feel that it is not worth my time or gasoline to drive to the grocery store every time I need a single item. While this attitude may violate the "empty is beautiful" sparse chic of the thin-blooded elite, I'm comfortable having a little bit of "clutter", even if it means some people get so distressed that they wet their pants.

[henry]

Mark, you should get video and start a youtube series of the pants wetters.

[Stephanie]

Kroger 10 for 10 dollar sale and Sam's Club and Costco must make them pee their pants every time they drive by, Mark .

[Threadkiller]

Sheriff doubles down:

Clarke said that with the Milwaukee area beset by burglaries and robberies, residents need to know how to protect themselves. "We can't be everywhere all the time. Sometimes we can't be there as fast as we'd like," he told Fox News. "Once the wolf is at the door ... 911 isn't going to help you, but there are some things that you can do."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/28/sheriff-who-urged-residents-to-learn-how-to-use-firearms-blasts-mayor-dirty/

[narciso]

They dialed straight to 12;

http://twitchy.com/2013/01/28/the-steve-kroft-swoon-was-obamahillary-interview-on-60-minutes-or-60-shades-of-gray/

[Extraneus]

She’s an NPR listener like me, but she’s also grown up in Texas

Why are we still funding this lefty media outlet, which even lefties freely admit is a lefty media outlet?

It's unanswerable, like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

[Extraneus]

Wow, that sheriff isn't apologizing and backpedaling yet? The Dem mafia is slipping.

[Stephanie]

Is there any difference between the MSM and that new show the Following, narciso? Both are full of cultlike worshippers of a dangerous narcissistic sociopath .

[Mark Folkestad]

Stephanie, some of these people are so snobbish that they might "get the vapors" merely thinking of Sam's Club or Costco (or their mental image of them garnered from liberal hate sessions, since they haven't been to one). Interestingly enough, I've been able to feel smug when these empty home fanatics have come to my door, asking to borrow a can of this or a cup of that, or some sort of tool. I struggled mightily against simply screaming at them to drive to town to get what they need.

Henry, that You Tube video idea of yours is too depressing to contemplate.

Actually, I have to confess that, many years ago, I got great satisfaction from the distress of my neighbor's radical daughter. I mentioned that I had just cooked up a series of meals to get rid of my old camping food, and that one of those meals was the Sierra Club Handbook recipe for easy vegetarian beans, using pre-cooked and dried beans to shorten the time. She got all excited because she had come out to the lake on an impulse, without preparation, and no one else had thought to bring anything that catered to her extreme version of vegetarianism. It was a joy to see the glimmer of hope in her eyes fizzle when I told her that I just ate the last of the vegetarian beans. Okay, so maybe my ex was right. I have a streak of passive-aggressiveness. By the way, this woman claims to only eat the plants that want to be eaten. Even her mother laughs at that. It brings up hilarious mental images.

[henry]

Mark, perhaps you will find a different mindset in Alaska. My neighbors complain that I have too little stored away.

[matt]

In the blue hells, if there is not a chance to wear special outfits and accessorize, it usually doesn't fly.

As to that sheriff, this is just another way for him to abdicate responsibility for their poor response times. It basically tells us that he has lost control of his county.

[Mark Folkestad]

Extraneous, do you remember "The Rockford Files", with James Garner? In one episode, Rockford got beaten up and spent his own limited funds to help a frazzled, ditzy hippie chick who constantly used that trite question, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?". Finally, after she spouted one-too-many self-righteous and self-centered rants, Rockford slapped her and shouted: "THAT'S THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING!".

[Stephanie]

this woman claims to only eat the plants that want to be eaten

Want to watch her head explode? Remind her that rapists only rape women who deep down really want it,too .

Hmmmm . I may have a touch of that passive aggressiveness, too. Nah . Just a deep abiding desire to develop a weapon like country yodeling that works on proggs as well as Martians .

[Mark Folkestad]

Henry, Mom canned everything you could conceive of. We gardened, hunted and fished for a lot of our food. It's gotten too civilized here in Minnesota. I will fit in very well up in Alaska. One of my friends there is an ardent liberal who is gradually morphing into a sensible individual. Her husband and best friend are staunchly conservative Republicans. She started out as a PETA supporter, anti-hunting and Vegan. Now she usually manages to fill her personal five-deer-per-season limit, and raves about how good meat is. She has fallen in love with guns. She is starting to rant at the know-it-all control freaks who are causing trouble for their commercial fishing enterprise. She rants at the paperwork involved in taxes, AND the rates. We might have a new conservative Republican in a couple of years.

[Appalled]

Today, I blog the interview where the President confessed his skeet shooting habit. But I'm more interested on the manner he used to avoid talking aboout his partisanship habit:

http://deathlessdialog.blogspot.com/2013/01/our-president-is-displeased.html

[Captain Hate]

Now, you want to find someone guilty, look at the mother of the guy who shot Giffords and the others. She covered for him. She used her political connections to keep him from getting the help he needed -- and as a result, people died.

That is what people should be ashamed of -- of being a Democrat government employee.

She and her deadbeat husband have been given an almost complete pass on this, as have any of the people that went easy on her son. Sarah Palin has gotten more blame than any of those who ere complicit in him being out and about.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

A radio that works "without" batteries? Is that a typo?

[Dave (in MA)]

Probably referring to a wind-up/solar radio, which of course has batteries in it.

[marlene]

matt,I saw your link to Stephen King a couple of threads back.He is God-like here in Maine (because he has been very generous) so any criticism of his views are spoken in whispers.

[Mark Folkestad]

Stephanie, that radical neighbor's daughter is a real piece of work. She was once on the board of the Minnesota Socialist Workers' Party (Trotskyist), but they kicked her off because she was too radical. One time, after my ex had been emotionally abusive, she hugged me to comfort me. Fifteen minutes later, I heard this: "When WE take over, I'm going to have to make sure you are one of the first shot!". She wasn't kidding. She used to vacation in places like Grenada and Ethiopia, before they were liberated. She is an emphatic and confrontational pro-abort, who once said that every woman should deliberately get pregnant and have an abortion, to show solidarity with oppressed women, and yet she rants about how eating a possibly fertilized chicken egg is equivalent to murder. She refuses to use anti-bacterial soap, because she doesn't want to kill germs, just wash them off her body. She's sprained her ankle many times, breaking it once, stepping to avoid ants on the sidewalk. One of her brothers, after finally getting out beyond her domineering influence, named his first son Nicholas Alexander, in honor of the last two czars of Russia. It didn't register. His second son was named Rush, in honor of Limbaugh, and still his older sister didn't catch on.

[Rob Crawford]

By the way, this woman claims to only eat the plants that want to be eaten.

'Are you going to tell me,' said Arthur, 'that I shouldn't have green salad?'

'Well,' said the [Dish of the Day], 'I know many vegetables that are very clear on that point. Which is why it was eventually decided to cut through the whole tangled problem and breed an animal that actually wanted to be eaten and was capable of saying so clearly and distinctly. And here I am.'

[Dave (in MA)]

I'm an unprepper who tries to use up the stuff stashed in the back of the pantry before the date stamped on the cans or packagea passes, and I end up wondering why the trash is so heavy that week.

[Dave (in MA)]

Vegetarians aren't against eating living things, only the ones that can't get away.

[Mark Folkestad]

Marlene, there was a series of books about a family making do in rural Maine that I loved. "We Took to the Woods" was the first one, I believe. The people in those books wouldn't find it easy to understand the political orientation dominant in Maine these days.

[Porchlight]

We have a ton of food and dry goods put aside including a water filter. You would think the NY media being so close to Sandy would recognize the value of this sort of thing, but of course it's much more fun to point and laugh at the people fearing nuclear attack. Which I would say is not all that unlikely either the way things are going.

[sbwaters]

We have a ton of food and dry goods put aside including a water filter.

I'm so prepared I keep a drinking quality, 2.7 million cubic foot fresh water lake just outside my door.

[Old Lurker]

It is sometimes fun/scary to reflect on how much we know as a group with centuries of specialization of labor that would be lost if we found ourselves fending for ourselves, and without the wide communications and trade which has developed since the dark ages.

We can watch all the "How it's Made" shows we can (and I do) but faced with making steel or making glass or making electricity or even butchering a cow and my head spins.

I suspect we'd drop from 7Bil to 1Bil in population in short order.

[rse]

Now that I have finished today's post you guys have me thinking I should go to grocery store.

http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/now-more-than-five-years-into-an-attempt-to-help-organize-a-near-total-revision-of-human-behavior/. The quote is from a July 2012 presentation by Ehrlich. And over the weekend I was able to track down in their own words ties of his MAHB initiative which is what he is describing in the title to both the Future Earth Alliance and other UN wishes for the future as well as Common Core and the global education redo.

And it also ties into what College Ready really means. This all started on Friday with an attempt to Name Launder values, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings as "metacognitive learning skills" via an Ed Week lead essay. I don't think that turned out so well.

[Porchlight]

sbw, that sounds beautiful. Of course a prepper would feel duty-bound to mention that filters are for when 1) previously uncontaminated water source becomes contaminated and/or 2) you are forced to leave the area and no longer have access to the water source. :)

[marlene]

Mark@10:46--- there is also a wonderful book by Annette Jackson,"My Life in the Maine Woods,A Game Warden's Wife in the Allagash Country." That book and "We Took to the Woods" are the favorites of most of our visitors who look at the selection on our bookshelves at the cabin.

[Clarice]

I'm beginning to think vegetarianism shrinks the brain.

EAT MORE MEAT

[marlene]

How could I forget "Nine Mile Bridge" by Helen Hamlin.She taught school at a lumber camp at the headwaters of the Allagash at age twenty.She married a game warden and moved deeper into the wilderness. Also a great book.

[Porchlight]

marlene, those sound great. My great-aunt wrote a memoir called "I Married A Logger: Life In Michigan's Tall Timber" about her time in the Upper Peninsula. Poor thing, she was an artsy type and it wasn't very pleasant for her.

[Clarice]

Definitely,OL. In case of such an event, I hope to be in the wilderness with doctors and engineers, not lawyers or professors.

[Rob Crawford]

I'm so prepared I keep a drinking quality, 2.7 million cubic foot fresh water lake just outside my door.

Pick up some "pool shock" that's calcium hypochlorite and "inert ingredients". A 12-lb box is enough to bring that whole lake to drinking-water quality.

Don't treat it all at once, though.

[Thomas Collins]

Whoa! I am clearly hopelessly out of touch with post-modern hipness. Prepper? I had no idea there was a name for individuals who take common sense steps to prepare for an emergency. Is prepper only a noun, or can it be used as a verb? Can it be applied to Sandra Fluke types, as in Sandra Fluke preppered for a storm by snatching extra free condoms at a Catholic school's ObamaCare mandated condom dispensary?

[Threadkiller]

Pastor Manning To Black Community: Obama's Entire History Nonexistent; All Records Sealed

http://youtu.be/UBKyw4KSHWs

[Rob Crawford]

TC -- the verb form is "to prep". Or, if you're a stickler for English, "to prepare".

And it usually is only applied to people who prepare for unusual disasters. From what I understand, the second part may apply to sex with Fluke, but the first does not.

[Dave (in MA)]

TC, I guess I'm not a prepper. I didn't even rush out and buy bread, milk and eggs.

[Dave (in MA)]

A "prepper" isn't anything like a "preppie", but a "trekker" is exactly the same as a "trekkie", despite their protestations to the contrary.

[Janet]

Vegetarians aren't against eating living things, only the ones that can't get away.

[hit and run]

Liberals becoming Preppers is nothing more than a SCAM, Inc.-induced demand generation campaign focused on convincing liberals that a Republican-controlled Senate as a result of the 2014 election and a Republican president come January 2017 (not to mention an Obama-less federal government) means the end of civilization as we know it.

[AliceH]

Upon meeting someone who somehow finds it necessary to share that he is a vegetarian, my immediate reaction is to check for a leather belt or leather shoes. Yeah. That's "different".

[Danube of Thought]

Pastor: "Not one politician will stand up and say, 'I represent the birthers.'"

Perhaps he could spend an afternoon meditating on the question, "why is that so?"

[Jim Eagle]

Try living in Florida, on the coast or gulf, and not be a prepper. We have a special room under our inside stairs that is big enough for sleeping and storage of water, food, supplies like flashlights, crank radios, blankets, etc.

We even have a large generator that can light the house, run one zone of AC and all the appliances. 500 gals of propane stored in an underground tank. Caneproof doors and windows. You can never prepare enough for what can happen in Florida along the coast. We've used that room 3 times so far in the last 8 years.

[Thomas Collins]

OK, thanks, RC. Now I understand. Someone took the verb prepare and made a noun out of it to apply to those who make common sense preparations for disasters.

Dave(in MA), I'm prepared. I have plenty of bottled water, hardboiled eggs, Jack Daniels and red wine. That should get me through this week even if the most dire predictions of storm after storm come through. And I'm betting that, in terms of snow, this continues to be a fizzle winter for Boston and surrounding suburbs.

[narciso]

The brainslugs went to town on him, rather quickly;

http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/01/28/obamas_revealed_foreign_policy_preferences

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

I believe this kind of story is more dangerous to the statists than all the tax cuts and John Boehner's and Rand Pauls and Republican parties in the world.
When people, especially liberals, learn that they and their neighbors can take care of themselves in some aspect of their lives they begin to know at some level they can in others.

It's also why I believe in the legalization of drugs; not because drugs are good but because it's not the proper role of the government to take care of it.
My understanding of government is, it is a necessary evil which exists almost solely to protect a nation from foreign aggression and to protect innocent citizens from domestic aggression.
It's not here to cure poverty or alcoholism or single motherhood or other largely self inflicted injuries. In a healthy society citizens voluntarily join together to help those who harm themselves and they do so more efficiently and vastly less coercively than governments do. More importantly their helping their neighbors cannot, by definition, morph into an uncontrolled nanny state.

When conservatives and libertarians cede those functions to the state they are ceding the rationale for limited government in virtually all areas. They have crossed the Rubicon of a government which protects me from others to one which protects me from myself.

Healthy, self sufficient societies are at once much more powerful and efficient than the state when allowed to function freely, but are also extremely fragile and easily usurped by the state. When we let the state do society's job we end up with wars on poverty which give us more and worse poverty and wars on drugs which give us more and worse drugs and criminals who sell them.
And in return for worse conditions we receive vast new entrenched and malevolent bureaucracies and cede more and more of our freedoms to the insatiable state. We also cede to the government a good portion of society's rightful power to determine good and evil and acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

[Danube of Thought]

Crazed dwarf Michael Bloomberg keeps his priorities straight:

Later in the evening, the host interrupted me to point out that the mayor himself had just arrived. Did I want to meet him? Sure. My friend and I followed the host over, shook Bloomberg’s hand, and my friend thanked him for his position on gun control. Without even acknowledging the comment, Bloomberg gestured toward a woman in a very tight floor-length gown standing nearby and said, “Look at the ass on her.”

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Sandra Fluke preppered for a storm by snatching extra free condoms--

There's a rather unfortunate [but perhaps not unintentional] pun in the middle of that sentence.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Crazed dwarf Michael Bloomberg keeps his priorities straight:....“Look at the ass on her.”--

Unfortunate puns seem to be the order of the day. :)

[NK]

DoT@11:47-- for the first time in a while I am pleased by a ststement from our Mayor.

[narciso]

The problem is these same elements, are attacking the cultural guardrails that discourage such behavior, as with all prog
strategies, I have to think it's deliberate.
As we see with birthcontrol, it is no longer
enough to tolerate, it must be openly provided.

[squaredance]

Wait, did we not just have a major natural disaster here in NYC? Did not the mayor tell us all to be prepared? Did we not almost have the same thing happen last year? No one in NYC payed attention?

When it comes to the great unwashed masses, guns, survival skill and preparations for chaos drive Liberals crazy for underneath it all is the notion of the free citizen making their own choices towards their own goals. The Left detest this because they either consider citizens to be irrelevant or fear that said citizens consider them so. It all depends on the social class a particular liberal comes from.

While it is interesting though that the Left Media somehow trying to comflate the preppers and gun ownership into some sort of 21st century, "militia movement", sort of a reboot of the militia agit-prop of the Clinton years, do not let this fool you.

As a matter of fact, I know some serious preppers in NYC, and in all boroughs including Manhattan. Many of them are liberals, some very few are actual Leftists, and almost all of them have some serious bucks. A surprising number have guns and some actually have NYC CC permits.

I know plenty of rich liberals that has the modern equivalent of a fallout shelter on at least one of their properties. As I have said before, I know one gentleman that even has one for his horses.

It is not so much that the limo lib crowd detest prepping or preppers, they do it themselves (or rather have someone do it for them), it is just that they detest regular Americans--detest them so much that they imagine anything that they do is fundamentally stupid and unnecessary, and, given how insignificant they feel the rest of us truly are, unwarranted; They wonder why we would even bother. I mean, can't the go to soup kitchens or something? Really now, if we are being honest, wouldn't it be better of some of those little people just did not make it anyway? These sort would never imagine that they too are "prepping" but they are playing it safe, and they do have places to go if things get rough.

Never confuse the West side, middle class liberals with the really rich ones. It is true that some people that work at the NYT or the very top levels of Non-profits and NGO's have trust funds of some sort, but most of NYC liberals do not. Most of them would nt survive 3 months of unemployment. They do not have money and have almost no practical skills. These people have to take classes to learn how to take photographs. Survival skills? That is mostly limited to internal corporate politics, which is of course how they survive from week to week. I would not trust them to hammer in a nail straight. We should be thankful that few of this lot ever touch a gun.

This bunch more look on the preppers as more traditional kulaks, and see it as an ominous sign of pending counter revolutions. These are the people that think that there are all of these "militias" out there in the hinterlands lands plotting against the great and the good. Beyond that, they detest the preppers because they have the good sense not to think very highly of liberals in general, and work-a-day liberals in articular. This all is really comic, because more of these working liberal in NYC are not from NYC or even the North East: they are from the interior of the country. Deep inside they know exactly who these preppers are for they grew up around just that sort of folks.

[centralcal]

Good morning. Monday, back at work and tried to catch up on all the weekend threads.

Since this thread is about prepping, I thought it tied in to a few of you who had questions of what became of Sara? Clarice put it most tactfully - she departed when "contradictions" in her life story came to surface.

Right after she left, I noticed on my Twitter follower list that she changed her on-line handle from Sara (pal2pal) and she now goes by Leslie (RealPal2Pal). She also changed her info that shows with her Twitter name saying that she is the owner/operator of a website called PantryPal dot Org. It seems to be a site dedicated to the art of "prepping."

Anyway, thought those few of you asking about her might be interested, plus that it kinda sorta tied in to today's discussion on preparedness.

[Clarice]

"Try living in Florida, on the coast or gulf, and not be a prepper"

I have a gassed up car and a map to get off the island.

[NK]

Henry-- Thought of you this weekend. I attended a Ct state referees seminar for the pool I am in. One segment was on violence/abuse against referees-- during 2011-2012 season, in our little state, 5 physical assaults in adult matches (U23 and above) 3 in Youth matches U21 and below. Not much guidance, except to call 911 and all 3 referees filing a complete game report to the State League reciting facts. No mention of tire deflation though. As a player, you'll be pleased to know that the referee administrators believe that being called an "effin' idiot" is NOT abuse-- it is part of the game.

[AliceH]

O/T - xkcd is especially giggle making today.

[narciso]

Herein we see the problem, first that someone named himself after who they tough was the CIA's
pawn, thank you 'reporting for doody', and that he is treated with anything less then total contempt;

http://twitchy.com/2013/01/28/rapper-rick-ross-in-rolls-royce-crash-after-alleged-drive-by-50-cent-foes-call-it-staged/

[Rick Ballard]

"It basically tells us that he has lost control of his county."

Matt,

Henry provided a little background on Clarke's problems with Barrett. I'd rate his statement as pure politics in the sense he is attempting to shift responsibility for poor security outcomes to Barrett. If you look at a murder map (it actually covers the entire country), the "out of control" lead head zones would not include Milwaukee. DC, Philly, Newark and Gary rival Johannesburg and Port au Prince wrt "out of control".

[Janet]

Yeah...I'm a big talker, but in reality I'd rely on my husband to save me if things fell apart. In 2000 when society was gonna crash...I only bought extra coffee & cigarettes. :(
priorities.

[henry]

NK, I can't remember a single ref taking me up on my offer of a free visit to the optometrist. Tire deflation may have been a MO / IL thing.

[Gus]

Question: If Michael Bloomberg was wearing shorts, how could you tell??

[narciso]

When they are wearing 'rose colored glasses' they can't see straight, henry, also they look at Goodell and Stern, and see there's no consequence to incompetence,

[AliceH]

-- In 2000 when society was gonna crash...I only bought extra coffee & cigarettes. --

That is inexcusably irresponsible, Janet! You also need to stock up on scotch/whiskey/vodka. You know - "for barter". ;-)

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--She also changed her info that shows with her Twitter name saying that she is the owner/operator of a website called PantryPal dot Org. It seems to be a site dedicated to the art of "prepping."--

Speaking of bad puns, Mormons prep religiously.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Question: If Michael Bloomberg was wearing shorts, how could you tell??--

He'd be wearing black socks and sandals?

[Porchlight]

centralcal is correct about the timing and reason for Sara's departure. I'm glad she has found a new interest to pursue (prepping).

[Danube of Thought iPad]

"It's not here to cure poverty or alcoholism or single motherhood or other largely self inflicted injuries."

In the case of single motherhood, government actually subsidized it quite lavishly, with the readily predictable result.

[Thomas Collins]

Ignatz, re your 11:50 AM post: I noticed the unfortunate choice of words after I had written the sentence. I decided to stay with the word in question because, notwithstanding the unfortunate potential double entendre, it expressed my view of how progs go after free stuff. "Grabbing" didn't quite express the action the way I wanted to express it. :-))

[NK]

BAN FOOTBALL?-- Dear Leader seems to put that on his To-Do list. I'm not much of an NFL fan, but what do fans make of this. My guess is that we are within a few years of Pop Warner/HS football being turned into a form of 11 man 'Flag Football' because of liability issues, no helmet manufacturers etc. Last I checked, NFL rosters are about 50+% African-American -- that's over 1,000 highly paid jobs, plus AA coaches in the NFL/NCAA. What's dear Leader's game or is he just an effin' idiot.

[centralcal]

AliceH:

That is inexcusably irresponsible, Janet! You also need to stock up on scotch/whiskey/vodka. You know - "for barter". ;-)

I was just about to post something similar! (Probably wouldn't have have thought of the bartering potential, however.)

[AliceH]

Posted by: Rick Ballard | January 28, 2013 at 12:08 PM

That murder map got me wondering... all these crime stats get expressed as rates per 100K people/populations. How do stats get represented for populations that are less than 100K? My county, for example. We've had 1 murder in the last 10 years or more. Do stats folks call that "0 per 100K"? Or, given our population is closer to 10,000 than 100,000, do they project/extrapolate both elements and call it 10 murders per 100K population?

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Wahoo:

"A white ex-congresswoman with an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association is the front-runner to replace former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in a majority-black Chicagoland district with inner-city neighborhoods wracked by gun violence. At first glance, Debbie Halvorson should have no business winning the Feb. 26 special election. The former Democratic congresswoman was crushed by Jackson in a primary last year. She’s a white Democrat seeking to represent a district in which 54 percent of voters are African-American. And she’s an unapologetic Second Amendment backer — with endorsements from the NRA in two of her previous congressional campaigns."

[Soylent Red]

What happened to common sense? A cupboard of canned goods,a first-aid kit,flashlights,battery operated radio and heaven forbid,a gun!

I would not trust them to hammer in a nail straight. We should be thankful that few of this lot ever touch a gun.

Yes. Common sense. Actually knowing how to do things. The know-how and willingness to rely on oneself.

It's the absence of these things in cities that tells me that when SHTF the cities will spill forth into the rural areas in search of someone to take care of them. Or, in search of people who did common sense preparation that they can steal from.

If you needed a reason to own firearms and get free of the cities, that would be a compelling one.

Imagine their horror when they roll up on stately Soylent Manor and find that their expensive degrees, bitchin' skinny jeans, and extensive collection of Family Guy DVDs won't get them a crust of bread. I'm sure there will be many ironic quips bandied about.

[rse]

Like Clarice, I never let my gas tank go below half a tank during hurricane season when I am at the beach. It means I can always get to Dothan or Eufaula before needing gas.

That advice came in really handy years ago when Dennis came ashore the weekend after the 4th when the beach was packed with vacationers. And gas stations can be more than 10 miles apart.

[Porchlight]

In the case of single motherhood, government actually subsidized it quite lavishly, with the readily predictable result.

Precisely DoT.

Sooner or later "we have to be more understaaaanding of different lifestyles and life choices" nearly always leads to "government has to spend money on these people we are being more understaaaaanding of."

In addition "we must be tolerant" leads to "government needs to punish the intolerant (as defined by government)."

On paper that isn't true, but in practice it is nearly always true.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Alice, I assume that the unspoken term in those rates is "per year." If I had to express your county's experience in those terms, I would say it was 10 per 100,000 for the year in which the murder occurred, and zero in the other nine years.

[sbwaters]

Porch, I'm not leaving my lake until they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

[Rob Crawford]

In addition "we must be tolerant" leads to "government needs to punish the intolerant (as defined by government)."

The demands for "tolerance" have become demands for enthusiastic approval -- or else.

[Soylent Red]

Old and Icky: The Second Amendment

The New Hawtness: Racist 9th Century Death Cult

[AliceH]

Thanks, DoT. That makes perfect sense - and suggests another reason it is, generally-speaking, wise to know the rate, rate of change, and the absolute numbers when one is analysing data before reaching any conclusions.

[Gus]

Speaking of hammers and nails. How did Diana Oughton kill herself??

Nail bomb. She was taught by her boyfriend Bill Ayers.

Outlaw nails now!!!!

[Jimmyk]

" Can it be applied to Sandra Fluke types, as in Sandra Fluke preppered for a storm by snatching extra free condoms at a Catholic school's ObamaCare mandated condom dispensary?"

Elaine on Seinfeld was a prepper when it came to sponges. Not the kind you do the dishes with.

[Rob Crawford]

Outlaw nails now!!!!

They can have my nails when they pry them from my cold, dead hands...

[Jimmyk]

Alice, along those lines, I recall a news item about a county or similar entity that went from zero in on year (in this case fatal auto accidents) to one the next, and this was described as a 100% increase. Journalists!

[Janet]

The demands for "tolerance" have become demands for enthusiastic approval -- or else.

This is one of my favorite letters to the editor in the Wapo 4-9-07. Teaching Tolerance

" Regarding "Teaching Tolerance; Montgomery is a pioneer with a new sex education course" [editorial, April 2]: Contrary to what Montgomery County suggests, it is not necessary to teach details of any particular lifestyle to teach tolerance.

I grew up in the 1950s. My understanding of sexual practices might have been lacking in detail, but I was taught to respect all people and to tolerate however they wanted to live, as long as it did not harm me. I was required to act a certain way, not to think a certain way.

Today's agenda, promoting acceptance of all life choices as morally equal, confuses acceptance with tolerance. Although rapidly changing, our history as a nation places restrictions on what we do, not what we think.

Justifying graphic sex education as necessary for promoting tolerance is a fallacious argument."

ANNE ALLEN

[Porchlight]

It's like when some dumb magazine article says that your consumption of some scary substance is going to "triple your risk of X disease" or whatever. Meaning your chance of contracting said disease will go from .0001% to .0003%.

[Poly Ester]

I would like to point out that Mormans have been "preppers" for well over a century.

[sbwaters]

As opposed to Morwominz.