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Take the Crony out of Crony Capitalism
Jan 19, 2010 politics Leave a comment
John Stossel had a great show on “crony capitalism.” Catch the whole thing here or watch the great conclusion below:
Recent Entries
Rise of the Preppers
Jan 1, 2010 Firearms, Food Storage, News, Preparedness Planning, Survival, Video 1 Comment
Newsweek recently ran a good article on modern Preppers. This is video went along with the article.
Scouts in UK No Longer Allowed to Carry Pocket Knives
Sep 9, 2009 News, Survival 260 Comments
Scouts in the UK will now be a little worse-prepared after they were banned from carrying pocketknives due to the fears of those in charge of health and safety.
I can’t imagine scouting without having a pocket knife. If the Scout Motto was “Be Prepared,” it must now be “Pander to People’s Fear of Anything that Could in Any Way Be Dangerous.”
A good knife is one of the most essential tools required to be prepared. Without it, it becomes extremely difficult to build shelter, make good use of rope (in any form), provide food, start fires, cook, eat, fashion other tools, and the list goes on. Excerpts from the Telegraph article are below:
“Dave Budd, a knife-maker who runs courses training Scouts about the safe use of blades, wrote that the growing problem of knife crime meant action had to be taken.”
Yes, because there are so many Boy Scouts involved in violent crimes involving knives, I’m sure.
“The series of high-profile fatal stabbings [has] highlighted a growing knife culture in the UK.
And this step by the Scouts will help deflate that growing “knife culture”…how?
“I think it is safest to assume that knives of any sort should not be carried by anybody to a Scout meeting or camp, unless there is likely to be a specific need for one. In that case, they should be kept by the Scout leaders and handed out as required.”
The day the BSA does the same thing is the day I pull my boys out.
Is Gun Control Futile?
Aug 19, 2009 Firearms Leave a comment
This article in the Huffington Post, drawing on comments from P.J. O’Rourke suggests that gun control is futile. In the clip below, Mr. O’Rourke makes some good points (that only the law-abiding citizens pay attention to gun control laws, for instance). But somehow, Blaise Zerega’s apparent fear of guns got a hold of those comments and manifested in them something completely different.
In discussing the pork (yes, I’ll say it. it is pork after all) that was placed in an amendment to the credit card reform bill that would allow concealed weapons in our national parks, Blaise Zerega says:
Scary thought: Next time you’re in a traffic jam in Yosemite, don’t honk your horn at that knucklehead blocking the road while taking a picture of El Capitan. If the GOP has its way, soon “point-and-shoot” will take on whole new meaning.
First of all, are you kidding me?!? You’re suggesting that the GOP would be “having its way” if people shot other people for honking at them in the park? It’s this kind of tripe that paints the entire Huffington Post staff and gun control groups in a bad light in the first place.
I’m not going to sit here and argue the merits of allowing lawful concealed weapons permit holders to carry their weapons into a national park (although I defy anyone to give me a good reason why a national park should be treated any different from anywhere else a permit is valid). But can you see the twisted logic he’s trying to pull over the common sense of anyone dumb enough to give his article the time of day (I know, that includes me)?
O’Rourke points out that in most cases gun control doesn’t work because it’s only the law abiding citizens that pay attention to, and obey the laws. Then we get an agenda-wielding HuffPo writer watching O’Rourke’s comments through his foggy “guns are the enemy” mentality and goes off to concoct a scare-tactic scenario that goes exactly against the point that O’Rourke made. Unbelievable.
So let’s lay it out for your readers Blaise: What O’Rourke was actually saying is that, in your scenario, congress passing a law allowing permit holders to carry their legal firearms into a national park would have absolutely no effect on whether that guy in the car in front of you would show you a “new meaning of point-and-shoot” when you honk at him. If he’s a ccw permit holder, he is in overwhelming likeliness, a law-abiding citizen who will wave you past him (although perhaps with just one finger). If he’s a criminal with a gun, well, your chances haven’t changed any as a result of the new law.
So let’s quit with the scary stories and find something productive to say…
Take a look at the video, it’s an interesting look and worth the two minutes it takes to watch. Definitely a better use of your two minutes than reading another bumbling Zerega diatribe.
I wouldn’t say gun control is futile, but I would say that the way most gun control groups are going about it is. Practical Gun Control has it’s place in empowering citizens with training, confidence, safety instruction and reasonable controls (age limits, mental-health requirements, felon restrictions, etc). Legislation that supports the Right to Bear Arms while also keeping guns out of the hands of criminals should be supported.
Sound Personal Finance Advice From SNL
Jun 16, 2009 Finance 2 Comments
The Double Cost of Everything
Feb 5, 2009 Finance 3 Comments
Everybody knows that saving money is smart. Here’s why spending money is stupid (or at least affects you more than you’re trained to think).
When I was in college, I worked two part-time jobs. Together, the money I made from them pretty much covered my rent, food, and activities each month—but that still left me with the daunting hurdles of tuition and books to pay for each semester. While most students were applying for grants and scholarships, I turned to credit cards and float time on my personal checks.
As I tried to pay down my debt—throwing loads of cash at it, I just wasn’t making a dent. No matter how much money I was funneling toward my credit card balances, they never reflected the amount of money I really was paying toward the debt. This became one of the greatest lessons I learned in personal finance, something I call “The Double Cost of Everything.”
When I explained the principle to me wife, she said “Yeah. Most people call that ‘opportunity cost.’” Opportunity cost is probably the only subject of economics (a class I took twice) that I actually understood. It’s a fascinating subject, and if you’re not familiar with the concept (or even if you are), reading its entry on Wikipedia is a great refresher.
Opportunity cost is the value of the next best (or better) thing you could do with your money. “Double cost” is saying that because you’re spending, you’re losing your money plus your power to choose that next-best option. This loss equals 2x the dollar amount you’re paying out.
When combined with opportunity cost, the theory gives you a much more clear impression of the importance each financial decision really holds.
How It Works
When I first realized my theory, I was starting to see that if I put 400 dollars toward my debt, it wouldn’t make much of a difference in the balance on my card. The debt was too large, and when including interest, wouldn’t show a true $400 paydown.
On the other hand, if I took the $400 and spent it on a new stereo system, not only would I lose my $400, but my debt load would increase. When in debt, the $400 didn’t have the power to make me $400 richer, but if spent, it would make me nearly $800 poorer. How? Because once I used that purchasing power, it was spent. Gone. And not only was it gone, but my ability to pay down my debt was also lowered by $400. That’s the double cost of spending.
It’s not strict mathematics and no company will include opportunity or “double” costs on their balance sheet, but in the real world—when we’re dealing with humans, debt, minds, and dollars, the money you spend has twice the impact (or more as I’ll point out next) as the dollar value we naturally attach to it.
Double Cost +
When a person carries debt, additional factors push the effect of spending to more than double. Not only are you spending the money and losing power to pay down debt, but you’re also preserving the principal that you’re being charged interest on. In effect, spending the $400 is also paying 15% (or whatever your rate is) interest on it and adding to your debt horizon!
In addition, because you spent your money, if you have a new required expense (utilities, mortgage, whatever), you may have to pay that expense on credit, making the cost of that $400 even steeper.
Spending Isn’t All Bad
Of course spending money isn’t evil. If you never spend money, there’s really no reason to have any in the first place. But spending wisely, and realizing the double cost of everything will help you to prioritize and see your costs for what they really are (think double).
Responsibility
Hopefully looking at money in this way will help us to realize that we have a responsibility to save, spend, and invest wisely. If we have a family, they depend on us. And if we want to be contributors to society (which all good citizens should), we must have the means to actually contribute.
Being responsible goes a long way in cutting debt and building real wealth. Once we realize the true impact of our financial decisions, it becomes easier to make decisions that will prepare us for good times and bad.
Once I learned my lesson, I started a savings account and put a small percentage of everything I earned into it. Some would argue that the time to save comes after debts have been paid. But now that I understood my human nature, I knew that I needed to start a habit.
I also began paying down my debt with everything that wasn’t going to savings or reasonable living expenses. Today (despite the economy) I feel safe, secure, and prepared. I credit that security to my discovery of the true price attached to each expense—the double cost of everything.
Brady Campaign Scorecard - Flip it and Reverse It
Feb 5, 2009 Firearms, News 24 Comments
The Brady Campaign came out with their 2008 State Scorecard today. The scorecard ranks all 50 states as determined by how close they stick to Brady’s common sense gun laws.
I’ll leave it to you to decide if being at the top of the list is a good thing or not, but it seems to me that those states at the bottom have a generally smaller problem when it comes to crime committed with firearms.
Turn the scorecard upside-down, and you get an accurate ranking of true common sense gun laws—where law-abiding citizens have the right to defend themselves and their families from criminals who show little respect for any gun law—”common sense” or not.
That puts the following in our top three (including several ties)—congratulations to:
- 2- Oklahoma
- 2- Louisiana
- 2- Kentucky
- 4- West Virginia
- 4- Utah
- 4- North Dakota
- 4- Missouri
- 4- Alaska
- 5- Mississippi
* Numbers are calculated out of a high score of 100
You’re all doing something right.
Online Police and Fire Scanners
Jan 27, 2009 Communications, Tips 81 Comments
Online police and fire scanners provide a fun and free way to get news as it happens. Check out these sites for free scanner streaming in your area
I received an email from “DL” about a few days ago asking if I had any recommendations for police scanners for her 72-hour kit. Unfortunately, I don’t have any recent experience in the area, but told her I’d do some looking around.
In the meantime, I thought it might be interesting to see if there were any live police/fire feeds online. BINGO! There are quite a few online sites that provide live feeds, and all you need is a computer with an internet connection. It can be a lot of fun to listen to what’s going on in your area via those feeds. What might be even more interesting would be emergencies, natural disaster or other large-scale events that you’ll be able to listen in on from across the country, something you wouldn’t be able to do with your own scan hardware unless you were in the same area. Some of these sites probably share a lot of the same information, but here are the best sites I’ve found for online scanning:
- ScanAmerica.us *my favorite, also has local and “interesting audio archives“
- Police-Scanner.info
- ScannerMaster
- Police Scanner Audio Broadcasts
Obviously these sites won’t be reliable in a disaster situation (lack of power, internet, computer, etc), so they’re no replacement for an actual scanner (especially battery-powered, handheld units). But they can be a lot of fun—and useful for those of us who spend a lot of time at the desk. Plus—they’re free!
After receiving her question from DL and thinking about the benefits, I’ve been looking for a good handheld scanner to add to my own bugout bag. I still haven’t decided on what to pick up (a lot of the scanners around $100 on Amazon have pretty mixed reviews), so if you have suggestions, please let us know.
And happy scanning!
THE NEW WHITE HOUSE ON GUNS
Jan 20, 2009 Firearms, News 7 Comments
A direct quote from the new whitehouse.gov website today:
Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.
Read the full agenda here (see Urban Policy: Crime and Law Enforcement).
The language in this policy opens the door (or perhaps more appropriately, the flood gates) to making it more difficult for people to buy, own, trade, gift, train with, and use guns, as well as the establishment of a gun registry, a ban on guns that sound and/or look scary, and I’m predicting, a massive buy-back in the near future.
And so it begins…
Quick Tip: Staying Safe in the Cold
Jan 16, 2009 Survival 1 Comment
For the thousands of people in the Northeast and Midwest, these are the coldest temperatures you’ve ever experienced. Frostbite is a real danger that occurs when flesh freezes, forming ice crystals that can damage your cells. This “Staying safe in a deep freeze” article on MSNBC prompted today’s quick tip.
Prevent Frostbite
Bundle up! Wear a hat, coat, gloves and/or mittens, good boots (with an extra pair of socks), and don’t pretend you’re too manly to wear a scarf.
Hand and toe warmers are also great for keeping the frostbite at bay, but make sure you don’t place them directly against your skin for extended periods of time.
Identify Frostbite
Most commonly affected areas are the fingers, toes, ears and nose. The skin will likely be hard, feel numb, and may look waxy, white or grey.
In extreme cases, frostbite will create blisters, can turn skin black, and cuts and cracks in the skin will appear. These cases are serious and should be treated by a doctor as soon as possible. They can lead to permanent nerve damage, gangrene, and may require amputation.
Treat Frostbite
When dealing with minor cases of frostbite, warm the affected areas gradually. Using blankets, room temperature, or the body heat of another person is the best way to thaw frozen flesh at home. But DO NOT rub the affected areas or break any blisters!
DO NOT use hand warmers directly on the skin, and do not use hot water. If you do decide to use water to re-warm affected areas, be sure that the water is just above body temperature.
After re-warming, gently dry skin and keep fingers and toes separated from each other with sterile bandages (and without adhesive).
The thawing of frozen flesh is extremely painful. I recommend you take a good dose of ibuprofen or other painkiller while treating frostbite.
Hypothermia
Hypothermia is a real threat at these temperatures and can be even more serious than frostbite. If you can’t stop shivering, listen to your body and get inside.
