We’re busy prepping!  Actually we really are.  During winter it’s a lot easier to spend your “free time” writing good posts.  In spring however, many of us are spending all our free time trying to get all the spring prepping and work done so that fall can be a productive harvest!  For the last 2 months or so I have spent all my free time moving to a new house (50 acres in Payson) and getting things arranged there.

I’ve got several posts lined up in my head and on my camera but haven’t had time to sit down and write.  I’m really hoping that during this week I’ll have time to do some quality writing, more than likely though it won’t be for another week or two.

In the mean time, I thought I would post some teaser pics of what I’ve been working on and what I’ll be writing on soon.

Here is our new place.  You can see the freshly plowed 200×50 garden just below the fence line.

We’ve got a batch of chics that we’re building a chicken tractor for.

We’ve got two new pups that we’ll be training as guard dogs to protect the kids and the house.  Their names are War and Peace.

And I’ve got over 650 starts planted and are much further along than this 2 week old picture.

I’m planning on writing extensive posts about all these and several other things that I’ve been working on the last couple months.  Sorry for not writing lately but we’re still prepping and hopefully you are too!

You see, we already have certain laws that revoke the rights of gun ownership from specific types of people, most notably felons.  People that have been found guilty in a court of law of committing certain crimes, which we then now associate with not allowing them.  This serves many interests, as now they can classify all sorts of crimes with a specific tag, and now outlaw somebody from gun ownership, even if they have done nothing of a related manner.

But some people still don’t fall into that trap, how do you take care of that?  Rahm thinks he has an answer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

By using the no-fly list as an ad-hoc gun ban, they now have a convenient, unmonitored list that they can control at will.  It was reported that as of September 2007 there were 70,000 names on the no-fly list and that it was growing at approximately 20,000 names a month.  Now it’s over 1 Million! The public is not allowed access to the list so it is impossible to know if you are on it until you are not allowed to board a flight. Given some highly publicized problems with the list, is this really something that should be expanded to encompass gun control?

Given the way this will be sold to the public though, “keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists”, it would be easy to get a law such as this passed, after all, who in the general public would condemn keeping “terrorists” from owning guns?  But think about it, are just terrorists on this list?  How do you know?  Even a group that I am not one to quote much has a section for helping those with trouble on the no-fly list (hey, they’re right on this one).

In this, Rahm hopes to create a list that at-will, the Presidency, and it’s Attorney General can ban people from any form of firearm ownership, with no regulation, and no notification.  There is no real recourse once you are on it, and you can’t even find out ahead of time if you are.

When:

March 20th (6pm-10pm) and March 21st (10am-4pm). Friday’s class is all instruction, Saturday’s class is instruction plus the possibility of an in apiary portion.

Where:

1206 South 1680 West, Orem, UT.

Cost:

$20 per person; $30 for couples.

Description of Class:

This class is aimed towards the first year beekeeper who is looking gain basic knowledge about bees, the problems, swarming, honey harvests etc.

What you Should Bring:

pen, paper, questions – on the day of apiary instruction, you are responsible for providing your own safety gear (helmet, veil, gloves, hives tools)

Notes:

Please RSVP for the class no later than March 10th.

How to RSVP:

Contact the UCBA association with your name, phone number, email address and number of the students that will be participating. You are welcome to contact us via email, snail mail or phone.

General Contact Information:

Email:

ut.co.beekeepers@gmail.com

Mailing Address:

Utah County Beekeepers Association, PO Box 743, Pleasant Grove, UT 84062

These three videos give some of the highlights of the discussion (wish the whole show was up there).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now, I’m all for the concept of the government encouraging us to prepare, and to help people know how to prepare.  But in looking at tools such as the DHS’s ready.gov compared to blogs such as us, or those in our blogroll, I know I can get a lot more practical information from the personal experience on the web.  And it hasn’t been sanitized by every scared lawyer, by beuracracies such as the FDA.  So speak up, and make sure this doesn’t become just another overarching act that limits peoples ability to share information.

A new piece of legislation proposed by State Senator Scott Jenkins, mentioned in this Deseret News article outlines a plan to allow homeowners to collect and legally use rainwater that has fallen on their property. How did rain water falling on private property ever come to be the legal property of the state?

We at Utah Preppers urge you to contact your local state representative to urge him or her to support this legislation when it comes up during the next session. You can find your local representative here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Listening to these people talk about the incremental way that their rights were first infringed upon, then completely taken away reminds me of a famous quote by Martin Niemöller:

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.”

As liberty loving Americans we need to stand up for not only our Rights but the Rights of others.

When I lived in Southern California, I began to get into long range target shooting. Through this hobby I met Tom Miller and Don Anderson, two of the nicest people you will ever meet. Tom is a retired ATF agent and FFL dealer. I bought my EDM Arms Windrunner through Tom as well as both of the Nightforce scopes that I own. His prices and most of all his friendly service are second to none.

Don was his right hand man, helping out at gun shows, but more than this, he was a regular at the monthly .50 cal shoot at Angeles Ranges. He allowed anyone interested to shoot his .50 cal, .408 CheyTac or .338 Lapua for free, just to promote interest in the sport. He invested in all the best equipment to reload .50 cal ammunition and would sell it to anyone at his cost to shoot in their own rifles. This of course represented a considerable amount of time he was giving away, just to help promote the sport.

Picture from ShootingTimes.com

About 2 years ago, a while after I left California, I found out that Don’s house had been raided by SWAT teams, the ATF and LA County Sheriffs. All his semi-automatic firearms were taken away. This was followed by two years of silence. Don had done nothing illegal and we all assumed that the DA and others were hoping they would be able to let it die without admitting they were wrong.

Turns out we were the ones who were wrong. The DA is apparently trumping up charges and charging him ex post facto with 5 felonies when not a single law was broken.

Don is a personal friend of mine and I will be contributing to his defense fund. I am posting this to make others aware of the situation, not to solicit donations. However, if you think this can’t happen to you, think again. I built AR15′s to the letter of the law while I lived in California. This sets a precedent that all guns not built by a major manufacturer can be considered a ‘Zip Gun’.

Don’t live in California? If this goes through, believe it or not, it will make its way to wherever you may be living. All gun owners need to stand up as one and come to our mutual defense. Don’t let this be the case that breaks us! California’s budget is 16 Billion in the RED, they leave the borders open but go after law abiding working class citizens.

Please take the time to read the original post on BiggerHammer.net below. This has also been posted by mutual friends (Don has many many friends because of the wonderful person that he is) on calguns.net, ar15.com and other forums, so if you see this elsewhere, please be sure to leave comments of support there as well.
Read the original post by Tom here
calguns.net post

Tom Miller’s original post

When I retired in 2000, I was in a battle for my life against lymphoma cancer. I had been fighting it for three years when I met Don Anderson. He was always there for me like no other friend I had. Only God helped me more than Don. I was very sick. Many times I couldn’t walk or eat, but Donnie was always there for me.
Ever since those days, Don Anderson and I have remained good friends representing EDM Arms as field reps, shooting together, working gun-shows together and organizing .50 caliber matches in Southern California. He is an upstanding person like no other perspn I know. Many of you know and love him like I do.

Donnie is now in for the fight of his life with a corrupt system in Los Angeles. I am very much aware of the facts in the LAPD’s “Gun Squad” criminal investigation of Don Anderson. It began in 2006 when an incomppetent, over zealous detective of the “gun squad” embellished, stated untrue information and provided “stale” information in his affidavit for a state search warrant for Don’s residence in Harbor City, an area with-in Los Angeles. This detective even used California’s DOJ’s .50 BMG registration information on Don Anderson to support his probable cause requirement in the affidavit.

The search warrant was executed on September 19, 2006 early in the morning by the LAPD “SWAT” team and “gun squad”. They entered Don’s residence with full force pointing MP-5′s and shotguns at Don and his wife. The “gun squad” led by the rogue case detective seized every semi-auto firearm on the premises. These firearms included a home built semi-autto M2 .50 BMG, a home built semi-auto M3 .50 BMG and a homebuilt 1919A4 semi-auto caliber and some other items. Don had properly registered the M2 and M3 with DOJ as required by the 2004 .50 BMG ban in California.

Don was not arrested or charged with any crime at that time. Don retained NRA recommended attorney Chuck Michel of Trutanich Michel LLP law firm. Two years passed by without hearing anything from the LAPD “gun squad”. Then, on the early morning of December 4, 2008 the LAPD “Fugitive Squad” arrested Anderson at his residence in front of his wife. They transported him to the 77th Division jail. His bail had been set by the case detective and DA at $125,000 which required giving the bail/bond company $9500 non-refundable dollars to get Don out of custody. This wasn’t possible, so Don spent the night in jail.

On December 5, 2008 late in the afternoon, the attorneys were able to get the bail reduced to $37,000 requiring about $3000 tothe bail/bond company.

When the bail was reduced, Don was informed by the court that he was being charged with five felonies. Even though the “gun squad” case detective and DA’s office had agreed with Chuck Michel back around the time after the search warrant was exeuted, that Don would be able to just turn himself in in the event he was charged with any criminal acts resulting from he warrant. This certainly didn’t happen, as Don was arrested by the “Fugitive squad” on December 4th.

Regarding the five felonies that Don faces. Two or three of them relate to the registered M2 and M3, and the 1919A4 semi-auto rifles. These guns were all “home built” by Don as semi-autos in strict compliance with state and federal law. The M2 and M3 were registered with DOJ as I previously stated. They were legally built and possessed by Don, but in all their wisdom the case detective and DA are charging the guns as, get this, “ZIP GUNS” under the Californa penal code.

Don is also being charged with having large capacity feeding devices as there were several linked belts of more than ten rounds of .308 ammo in his garage. I am aware that Don had these links prior to the end of 2000 which makes it completely legal for Don to link more than ten rounds together. At this point these linked belts are being charged as a felony. Anothe felony being charged is relating to a Walther P22 .22LR semi-auto pistol that I as a FFL dealer had legally sold to Don. Some time thereafter, DOJ determined that the Walther P22 pistols were manufactured with a threaded barrel, therefore making them an “Assault Pistol”, and were required to be sent back to the manufactuer for a barrel change. It looks like I’m out of room to finish this, so I’ll do it with a second posting to follow.

Donnie did not receive any notification from DOJ mandating the return of the P22 pistol to the factory for a barrel change. Therefore, it never got sent back and now he is being charged with the “felony possession of an unregistered assault pistol under California penal code”. Finally, he had a .50 BMG shark bang stick device that divers would use in the event of a shark attack. Don was using this thing as a paper weight. It did not have a stick so the DA is charging felony possession of an “Exotic Weapon”.
My take on all this is that the case is the worst I have ever seen. It should be dismissed for a number of reasons. But, it won’t be. In this state any chance they have to prosecute a gun case they go after it 100%. It is going to be very costly to defend. The attorneys have informed Don that it could cost $20,000-$50,000 to finish the case with no guarantee about the outcome. Don is in big troule here and we need to help him. John Burtt of the FCSA is going to run a nation wide raffle in the name of the “Don Aderson Defense fund”. I am giving him a new .50 cal EDM Arms “Windrunner” for the raffle. The raffle won’t be up and running for at least a month. And, it still needs to be approved by the FCSA Board of Directors.

In the mean time and right now, I am asking for every one’s help in sending me a check made out to the attorneys Trutanich Michel LLP for whatever you can afford to help with the attorney fees for Don. Please do this for Don. My address is Tom S. Miller, 3938 Stanford Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056 tel 760-757-6823. Also, please help me get this around on the appropriate boards and web-sites or whatever else the inter-net offers. Thanks so much. God Bless. Tom

There are very few mainstream articles being published right now that are presenting a realistic top-down view of the entire situation with the economy. The quotes I’m going to present to you here are from mainstream publications but the key point of them is that these are quotes from high level analysts and executives in widely respected financial companies who are remarking that things are bad, very bad and they are going to get much worse.

The following snippets are from this excellent article from Bloomberg:

“As bad as you think it is, it’s worse,” said Diane Garnick, who helps oversee about $500 billion as an investment strategist at Invesco Ltd. in New York. “The chances of the economy turning around in the first half of 2009 are declining rapidly because unemployed people can’t spur economic growth.”

The Labor Department said more Americans are collecting jobless benefits than at any time since 1982. Economists estimate a report tomorrow will show the unemployment rate increased to 6.8 percent, a 15-year high.

“There’s a concern out there that this isn’t a recession, it’s the Great Depression II, or the Great Recession I,” said Kenneth Schapiro, president of Condor Capital Management.

Crude oil tumbled 6.8 percent to $43.59 a barrel in New York, the lowest price since January 2005. It has plunged 70 percent since the closing record of $145.29 set in July and may fall below $25 next year if the recession that’s slashing fuel demand around the world spreads to China, Francisco Blanch, commodity strategist at Merrill Lynch, wrote in a report today.

The Labor Department said today that 4.09 million fired workers received government unemployment checks in the week ended Nov. 22, the most since December 1982 and more than economists estimated.

“Businesses are battening down the hatches,” Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh, said in Bloomberg Television interview. “Job losses are going to continue to accelerate.”

Then there’s this from CitiGroup’s Chief Technical Strategist:

The bank said the damage caused by the financial excesses of the last quarter century was forcing the world’s authorities to take steps that had never been tried before.

This gamble was likely to end in one of two extreme ways: with either a resurgence of inflation; or a downward spiral into depression, civil disorder, and possibly wars. Both outcomes will cause a rush for gold.

“They are throwing the kitchen sink at this,” said Tom Fitzpatrick, the bank’s chief technical strategist.

“The world is not going back to normal after the magnitude of what they have done. When the dust settles this will either work, and the money they have pushed into the system will feed though into an inflation shock.

“Or it will not work because too much damage has already been done, and we will see continued financial deterioration, causing further economic deterioration, with the risk of a feedback loop. We don’t think this is the more likely outcome, but as each week and month passes, there is a growing danger of vicious circle as confidence erodes,” he said.

“This will lead to political instability. We are already seeing countries on the periphery of Europe under severe stress. Some leaders are now at record levels of unpopularity. There is a risk of domestic unrest, starting with strikes because people are feeling disenfranchised.”

“What happens if there is a meltdown in a country like Pakistan, which is a nuclear power. People react when they have their backs to the wall. We’re already seeing doubts emerge about the sovereign debts of developed AAA-rated countries, which is not something you can ignore,” he said.

The problem with the situation we find ourselves in is that while right now it’s getting worse at a very fast pace, the bottom could fall out at any time – and when it does that it’s too late! The bottom falling out will happen when a critical amount of people suddenly realize exactly what is going on and they all hit the store and gas station at the same time. Overnight everything will be gone, panic will set in and things will get insane. Once the stores are emptied, there is very little hope that they’ll be refilled. There will be millions of people who find themselves without food and their next step will be rioting and violence. Trucks attempting to deliver re-supply goods to stores will be hi-jacked and robbed, people will start doing horrible things to keep from starving to death.

This possibility will either happen, or it won’t. But as things continue to accelerate downward, which these experts predict they will, something similar to that scenario is very likely to happen.

If you are thinking that you don’t need to be fully prepped right now or that you have plenty of time to get ready – STOP! While there is a chance that you have time, the level of risk you are taking is getting very very high. There are two choices – get fully prepped NOW or wait. There are two financial decisions, spend money in getting fully prepped NOW or spend or save your money on something else. There are two consequences, when TSHTF you are either prepared and not participating in the insanity, or you are unprepared and joining the panicked, soon to be starving masses in insurrection at the local market.

Those are the choices you have to make now that will determine which consequence you endure. This thing isn’t going to go away or get better, it’s going to speed up and the direction it is accelerating to is down and worse. If you choose to ignore it, you might be right – and I won’t invite myself to your celebration party. But if you’re wrong, please return the consideration and don’t invite yourself to my bunker.

This post is the background and basis for future posts we’ll be doing here about “How to Prepare to Survive the Coming Depression”.

Click here to view the embedded video.