An unbelievably bad idea

Recently a reader, a fellow who is enthused and admiring of our Preparedness efforts dropped my husband an email, urging us to enter a contest for preparedness. All we had to do was submit a one-minute video that details our preparedness efforts.

"We are encouraging individuals and organizations to take action before disaster strikes," announces the website, "by making an emergency kit and plan, and talking with their networks about how to respond during a disaster."

Okay, this all sounded fine and good until we noticed the suffix on the website address:

--> .gov <--

You got it, this contest is being sponsored by our government.

From the website:

September is National Preparedness Month and CDC wants to know, Are You Prepared? We are challenging YOU to make a 60 second video that shows how you’re prepared for any emergency and reinforces the key message: “Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Informed.” Individuals, groups, and even zombies can enter the contest. Participants are encouraged to use creative ways to prepare for an emergency.

Videos must not contain profanity, violence or weapons, explicit content, or personal attacks on people or organizations. Only videos that do not contain obscene, hateful, offensive or slanderous material will be considered. Videos must not have any visual or verbal mention of any websites other than CDC’s Emergency Preparedness website.

The only "prize" is to have the winning video posted on the CDC's official webpage. Whoo-hoo.

And in exchange, all you've given up is your mortal soul. Well, maybe not that dire... but you've given up all OpSec, all privacy, all illusions that the government won't know exactly what you have stored and exactly where to find you when they wish to liberate you of your hard-earned supplies.

We're not exactly deep into the OpSec. We can't if we're going to do what we do, which is convince, encourage, and teach others to be prepared. But most Preppers take OpSec very seriously, as they should.

By entering this contest, you are voluntarily blowing your OpSec in a major major way.

DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST. It's a really really bad idea.

What's yours is yours and what's mine is yours

Well this is a lovely development.

Last night while reading SurvivalBlog, my husband picked up this cheery article. It seems that Louisville, Colorado is putting together an emergency response plan which includes language that gives the city the power to "commandeer private property" and "seize" buildings in a crisis.

Louisville Police Chief Bruce Goodman "has been pushing Louisville to adopt an emergency preparedness plan for several years" and says he "understands how some of the draconian language in the ordinance raises 'red flags,' including a section that empowers city officials to 'seize any food, clothing, water or medical supplies necessary to sustain displaced disaster victims.'" But, he adds, "the real life examples of a temporary takeover of property during an emergency are a lot milder than what the words connote."

I see. Milder, eh? If "real life examples" are so mild, then why the over-the-top language unless they want it there in the first place?

After all, how nice to have all the harsh draconian wording already in place so that if the bleep hits the fan, all the Preppers can be raided and stripped of their supplies. Because, let's face it, given the just-in-time nature of grocery stores and the rapidity with which they are emptied in a crisis, the only other place that will be left for a "temporary takeover" will be mine...and thine.

And see, this kind of language is only going to get more and more common as cities realize that yes, the bleep could hit the fan at any moment and so whose supplies can they seize? This is where Don and I realize how vulnerable and out-on-a-limb we've gone by publicly urging people to follow our example and prepare. We knew from the start it was a chance we were taking.

The logical next question for Don and I is... how can we make our preparedness items... disappear?

This will take some thought and planning. They can't seize what they can't find.

Poisonous milk

So here we go again - the brown shirts from the federal government are doing dawn raids on dairy farmers - treating them like the most loathsome of drug runners - because they're selling (pause while I gasp in horror)....raw milk.

FOR PETE'S SAKE, RAW MILK IS NOT POISONOUS!!!!!

Look, I just wrote an article on pasteurization for Backwoods Home Magazine. Prior to writing that, I never really paid attention to the debate between raw and pasteurized milk. I mean sure, I drink raw milk from our own cows - been doing that for eleven years now - and we're all healthy as horses. But with minimal research on the internet I discovered the various health issues behind pasteurized milk that has made thousands of people passionate about drinking milk in its natural state.

And here's the thing the Feds won't admit: IT SHOULD BE OUR CHOICE WHAT KIND OF MILK WE WANT TO DRINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of the most classic examples of free-market capitalism in existence - if the government would keep out of it, that is. If someone gets sick from drinking raw milk, he won't buy the farmer's raw milk any more. Word will spread, and boom - he's out of business. Make sense?

But the fact is, people are NOT getting sick from drinking raw milk. People WANT raw milk. Why is this concept so difficult to grasp?

In this country we've gotten to where we have a damnably skewed opinion about the benefits of pasteurization. As I point out in my article, the benefits of pasteurization are indisputable...but that doesn't mean properly-handled raw milk is some sort of poisonous brew that will make drinkers drop like stones the moment it touches their lips.

The ironic thing is this particular raid happened on an Amish farm. Putting aside the fact that I have great admiration for the Amish, I should point out that, assuming this Amish dairy is following the strictures of their faith by not using electricity, then they're milking their cows by hand. When you hand-milk your cows, folks, you know those cows. Intimately. (Trust me on this.) Every wheeze, every cough, every beginning incidence of mastitis, every injury to a teat, every damage to a hoof, everything. Your crouch next to an animal for fifteen or twenty minutes, your head pressed against a flank, and you can hear every digestive rumble from within. You observe (feel, actually) their behavior. Stare at their udder and hooves. You even observe the quality of their waste products. Believe me, if a cow is sick - YOU KNOW IT. So don't give me this bullshit excuse that raw milk is poisonous just because it's raw.

Contrast this with your average commercial dairy. While I have great respect for commercial dairies, let's face it - there are a lot of cows living in less-than-ideal conditions. By definition a commercial cow is a number, nothing more. They are milked by machines. They live in mud and manure, cheek by jowl with hundreds of other animals. They are not - cannot - be treated as individuals by farmers who love them.

The feds are conducting Gestapo-style raids on dairy farms which - I'll just bet - are squeaky clean from top to bottom. These farmers are giving the customers what they want. How's that for a concept????? They're not forcing people to drink (gasp) raw milk - they're giving them WHAT THEY WANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grrrrrrrr.

Okay, I'll calm down now.