Honesty. That's what I miss about Montana. People might not like you, or vice versa, but at least you will know where you stand.
I work in a gym. In Portland, Oregon. Both are known for homosexual populations. I don't give a shit if you are gay or lesbian. I just don't care. I don't have a problem training gay or lesbian clients. I teach a MMA-centric combatives class. I don't have a problem rolling with a gay man.
What I do have a problem with is people who say they are uncomfortable when 3/4 of the clientele in this gym are gay or lesbian, but choose to do ALL of their marketing in the gay and lesbian community. Dishonesty blows.
What I also have a problem with is gays and lesbians who claim they only want equal rights with straights, but don't. What they REALLY want is socio-political superiority. They can crack jokes about straight people's sexuality, but if I happen to use the term "sissy," as a motivational tool to make a straight male client push a little harder, I'm a fucking homo-phobe? Try this one on Tinkerbell..."Blow me!"
So, Montana is looking awful nice again.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
The House Health Care Bill, aka The Cause of the 2d American Revolution
On Friday, November 06, 2009, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”
Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:
“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.”
[page 1]
- - - - - - - - - -
“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…”
[page 2]
- - - - - - - - - -
“Criminal penalties. Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:
• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.”
[page 3]
When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties. The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.
“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Camp.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, suddenly, I am a felon if I decide that I know better than the government does what my family and I need for health care?
It's not about care, it's about control.
I BELIEVE that it really is all about a new method to control us. Think about it...
Now, they can hit their gun control goals. Since the government controls the health care industry, and we've already determined that the AMA considers firearms a healthcare issue, the government can simply claim that since firearms raise health care costs, they are going to ban them. We all know where THAT particular slippery slope leads...
If we have government-mandated and controlled health care, suddenly we have ANOTHER form of federal identification number. I'm just a little paranoid, but I'm not at all okay with the government having ANOTHER fucking method to track me....
So, boys and girls, what is the message in all of this? Pile some more ammunition into your storage, cause we're gonna be having to shoot the bastards next. They are welcome to come arrest me because of my "willful evasion." But, whoever gets sent, better come muzzle first, and firing.
Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:
“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.”
[page 1]
- - - - - - - - - -
“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…”
[page 2]
- - - - - - - - - -
“Criminal penalties. Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:
• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.”
[page 3]
When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties. The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.
“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Camp.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, suddenly, I am a felon if I decide that I know better than the government does what my family and I need for health care?
It's not about care, it's about control.
I BELIEVE that it really is all about a new method to control us. Think about it...
Now, they can hit their gun control goals. Since the government controls the health care industry, and we've already determined that the AMA considers firearms a healthcare issue, the government can simply claim that since firearms raise health care costs, they are going to ban them. We all know where THAT particular slippery slope leads...
If we have government-mandated and controlled health care, suddenly we have ANOTHER form of federal identification number. I'm just a little paranoid, but I'm not at all okay with the government having ANOTHER fucking method to track me....
So, boys and girls, what is the message in all of this? Pile some more ammunition into your storage, cause we're gonna be having to shoot the bastards next. They are welcome to come arrest me because of my "willful evasion." But, whoever gets sent, better come muzzle first, and firing.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Top Ten Guns for TEOTWAWKI
I read an article with this title on someone’s blog the other day. The dude was an idiot, and was doing nothing more than parroting what he read off someone else’s blog. He didn’t even write it well.
I’ll make an attempt to do better, scout’s honour!
He had a list of lettered attributes that I won’t worry about. I’m not even going to bother with his list, since it had ridiculous shit like a Barrett .50BMG on there. (I LOVE the Barrett as an Anti-Material weapon, but for a survivalist? Maybe not so much, all things considered.)
1.) A semi-automatic, magazine-fed, rifle or carbine.
I don’t care if you pick the AK, or an AR, or an M1A, or the FN-FAL or HKs G3. It really doesn’t matter. Caliber is pretty well irrelevant too, despite the retro-philes who long for the days of the M14 and 7.63mmNATO.
You need something that will put a lot of controlled fire down range, in a relative hurry. Of course, you can never miss fast enough, but good training, coupled with a good weapon, will serve you well.
I think the 7.62x51mmNATO round is over-rated as a regular infantry caliber. Too many old guys remember it well from “back when it was hard!” That’s cool. I wouldn’t tell them to trade it in on a 5.56mmNATO “mouse gun.” Carry what you trust. Just don’t tell me to change what I am comfortable with.
I carried 5.56 the whole seven years I was a soldier, either as an M16A2, and M4A2, or the FN Minimi M249 SAW. I love, and TRUST, the caliber. I’ve never seen it not work when the shooter put the rounds where they needed to be.
Most of the anecdotal evidence of failures-to-stop come from shitty marksmanship. Yes, it happens, even in the U.S. military, because we no longer really train riflemen. Quit worrying about cool optics, and teach the fundamentals of marksmanship, out to the limit of the weapon, EXPECT your subordinates to shoot to the limit of the weapon, and you’ll see a lot fewer failures-to-stop.
The round is inherently accurate. Granted, barrel twist-to-bullet weight have to be factored in, but anytime a shooter can get 1000M match shots out of a 20-inch barrel, you’ve got an accurate weapon. The stated maximum range for a point target, of the M4 series, according to the army, is 500M. That’s pretty fucking good. I’ve seen guys do it too. Hell, I’ve done it, and I’m sure as shit no Gunny Hathcock!
The AK on the other hand, is running neck and neck with the old .308s as the most overrated weapon in the history of firearms! Yes, it’s tougher than boiled owl shit! Yes, it’s so simple the village retard can use it. Yes, it’s a relatively hard-hitting caliber. So, is the .30-30, and no one is shouting that we should issue Winchester 94s to our troops! Ballistically, that’s all the 7.62x39mm is, a .30-30 in a smaller package.
So, grab your AK-47 copy boys! It’s a semi-auto .30-30. Whoo-Hoo! Nope, make mine an AR in 5.56mmNATO.
Regardless of YOUR choice, it’s way more important that you practice with your weapon. Instead of typing inane bullshit about what gun is most effective for TEOTWAWKI, these yahoos should be getting some quality instruction and putting lots of rounds downrange. My apologies to the Michigan Militia guys too, but minute-of-paper plate, at 100 meters, is NOT battlefield accuracy (seriously, I saw it on their webpage once, that was the “standard” for these yahoos!), it’s “I’m an ignorant redneck wannabe Army Ranger” accuracy. Even under stress, with an M4, you should be able to make head shots at 50M. It’s done all the time.
2.) A semi-automatic, magazine-fed handgun.
I know there are a lot of guys out there, with serious combat handgun skills who will give me shit for not putting a revolver on here. Too bad. It’s my fucking list, and I think double-action revolvers are a poor choice for combative applications, outside of a snubby for EDC. Pistols have better ergonomics, making them more accurate, with the same amount of training, higher capacity (cause it’s probably not going to be a one-on-one fight, even post-apocalypse), and are, with the exception of single-action revolvers, more reliable, as well as quicker to clear in the event of a malfunction.
Caliber is even more irrelevant than in the rifle. Granted, a .32 ACP is probably a shitty choice if you are over the age of 8, but 9mm to .45ACP, are all proven man-stoppers, with accurate shot placement. Without it, a .44 Auto-Mag isn’t going to stop a determined attacker.
As with your rifle, get instruction in how to use it well, under combative conditions. Don’t be a gun store commando who talks about all the cool shit he has, but still thinks the sun rises and sets with point-shooting or the Weaver stance! Don’t be a dumbass!
3) a single-action revolver in .22caliber.
The workingman’s outdoor, do-anything gun. Killing pests, teaching the kids to shoot, it does pretty well everything, and they are so light that you can throw it in a rucksack and be done with it. I’ve had to put horses down with one, as well as cattle.
4) a .22LR semi-auto or lever-action carbine
I like the Ruger 10/22. It’s the only firearm they make, that I’ve had positive experiences with. I’ve shot sage rats (ground squirrels), birds, rabbits, squirrels, and (no shit!) a mountain lion. I shot a badger once too, but I don’t recommend that experience, at all! Like the revolver, it’s a do anything gun.
5) a .357 single-action revolver.
Fire .38 caliber rounds, or .357. I don’t think it’s the super-caliber that a lot of people seem to, but I think it’s a good one, and the ability to downgrade to .38 has been handy for me.
6) a .30-caliber bolt-action rifle with telescopic optics
The “sniper” rifle, isn’t. It’s just a good, all-around big-game gun. A .30 caliber bolt-action is capable of extreme accuracy, and heavy enough to put down anything on this continent. I’ve seen guys put down Alaska moose with a .30-06, and I guided a fella who put down an Alaskan brown bear with one round from a .30-06.
The caveat on this rifle is, if you have a .308 for your primary gun, it’s not necessary to have this one. Modern gunsmiths are more than capable of making a super-accurate semi-auto. Hell, the match-grade M1As from Springfield Armory are capable of sub-MOA out of the box!
Well, shit, that’s only six, and I’m done. See, there’s really no reason to own ten fucking guns. As the old adage goes, I’m more scared of the guy with one, really well-used gun than I am of the retard with 10!
With these six weapons, and adequate ammunition and magazines, a person is going to be able to make it through anything that would require a firearm, post-SHTF.
Granted, a shotgun would be nice. I own a Mossberg 500 in 12-gauge, and it’s comforting to know that I have an “alley-broom” that I can also use to hunt our little feathered friends with. Necessary though? Not really.
I’ll make an attempt to do better, scout’s honour!
He had a list of lettered attributes that I won’t worry about. I’m not even going to bother with his list, since it had ridiculous shit like a Barrett .50BMG on there. (I LOVE the Barrett as an Anti-Material weapon, but for a survivalist? Maybe not so much, all things considered.)
1.) A semi-automatic, magazine-fed, rifle or carbine.
I don’t care if you pick the AK, or an AR, or an M1A, or the FN-FAL or HKs G3. It really doesn’t matter. Caliber is pretty well irrelevant too, despite the retro-philes who long for the days of the M14 and 7.63mmNATO.
You need something that will put a lot of controlled fire down range, in a relative hurry. Of course, you can never miss fast enough, but good training, coupled with a good weapon, will serve you well.
I think the 7.62x51mmNATO round is over-rated as a regular infantry caliber. Too many old guys remember it well from “back when it was hard!” That’s cool. I wouldn’t tell them to trade it in on a 5.56mmNATO “mouse gun.” Carry what you trust. Just don’t tell me to change what I am comfortable with.
I carried 5.56 the whole seven years I was a soldier, either as an M16A2, and M4A2, or the FN Minimi M249 SAW. I love, and TRUST, the caliber. I’ve never seen it not work when the shooter put the rounds where they needed to be.
Most of the anecdotal evidence of failures-to-stop come from shitty marksmanship. Yes, it happens, even in the U.S. military, because we no longer really train riflemen. Quit worrying about cool optics, and teach the fundamentals of marksmanship, out to the limit of the weapon, EXPECT your subordinates to shoot to the limit of the weapon, and you’ll see a lot fewer failures-to-stop.
The round is inherently accurate. Granted, barrel twist-to-bullet weight have to be factored in, but anytime a shooter can get 1000M match shots out of a 20-inch barrel, you’ve got an accurate weapon. The stated maximum range for a point target, of the M4 series, according to the army, is 500M. That’s pretty fucking good. I’ve seen guys do it too. Hell, I’ve done it, and I’m sure as shit no Gunny Hathcock!
The AK on the other hand, is running neck and neck with the old .308s as the most overrated weapon in the history of firearms! Yes, it’s tougher than boiled owl shit! Yes, it’s so simple the village retard can use it. Yes, it’s a relatively hard-hitting caliber. So, is the .30-30, and no one is shouting that we should issue Winchester 94s to our troops! Ballistically, that’s all the 7.62x39mm is, a .30-30 in a smaller package.
So, grab your AK-47 copy boys! It’s a semi-auto .30-30. Whoo-Hoo! Nope, make mine an AR in 5.56mmNATO.
Regardless of YOUR choice, it’s way more important that you practice with your weapon. Instead of typing inane bullshit about what gun is most effective for TEOTWAWKI, these yahoos should be getting some quality instruction and putting lots of rounds downrange. My apologies to the Michigan Militia guys too, but minute-of-paper plate, at 100 meters, is NOT battlefield accuracy (seriously, I saw it on their webpage once, that was the “standard” for these yahoos!), it’s “I’m an ignorant redneck wannabe Army Ranger” accuracy. Even under stress, with an M4, you should be able to make head shots at 50M. It’s done all the time.
2.) A semi-automatic, magazine-fed handgun.
I know there are a lot of guys out there, with serious combat handgun skills who will give me shit for not putting a revolver on here. Too bad. It’s my fucking list, and I think double-action revolvers are a poor choice for combative applications, outside of a snubby for EDC. Pistols have better ergonomics, making them more accurate, with the same amount of training, higher capacity (cause it’s probably not going to be a one-on-one fight, even post-apocalypse), and are, with the exception of single-action revolvers, more reliable, as well as quicker to clear in the event of a malfunction.
Caliber is even more irrelevant than in the rifle. Granted, a .32 ACP is probably a shitty choice if you are over the age of 8, but 9mm to .45ACP, are all proven man-stoppers, with accurate shot placement. Without it, a .44 Auto-Mag isn’t going to stop a determined attacker.
As with your rifle, get instruction in how to use it well, under combative conditions. Don’t be a gun store commando who talks about all the cool shit he has, but still thinks the sun rises and sets with point-shooting or the Weaver stance! Don’t be a dumbass!
3) a single-action revolver in .22caliber.
The workingman’s outdoor, do-anything gun. Killing pests, teaching the kids to shoot, it does pretty well everything, and they are so light that you can throw it in a rucksack and be done with it. I’ve had to put horses down with one, as well as cattle.
4) a .22LR semi-auto or lever-action carbine
I like the Ruger 10/22. It’s the only firearm they make, that I’ve had positive experiences with. I’ve shot sage rats (ground squirrels), birds, rabbits, squirrels, and (no shit!) a mountain lion. I shot a badger once too, but I don’t recommend that experience, at all! Like the revolver, it’s a do anything gun.
5) a .357 single-action revolver.
Fire .38 caliber rounds, or .357. I don’t think it’s the super-caliber that a lot of people seem to, but I think it’s a good one, and the ability to downgrade to .38 has been handy for me.
6) a .30-caliber bolt-action rifle with telescopic optics
The “sniper” rifle, isn’t. It’s just a good, all-around big-game gun. A .30 caliber bolt-action is capable of extreme accuracy, and heavy enough to put down anything on this continent. I’ve seen guys put down Alaska moose with a .30-06, and I guided a fella who put down an Alaskan brown bear with one round from a .30-06.
The caveat on this rifle is, if you have a .308 for your primary gun, it’s not necessary to have this one. Modern gunsmiths are more than capable of making a super-accurate semi-auto. Hell, the match-grade M1As from Springfield Armory are capable of sub-MOA out of the box!
Well, shit, that’s only six, and I’m done. See, there’s really no reason to own ten fucking guns. As the old adage goes, I’m more scared of the guy with one, really well-used gun than I am of the retard with 10!
With these six weapons, and adequate ammunition and magazines, a person is going to be able to make it through anything that would require a firearm, post-SHTF.
Granted, a shotgun would be nice. I own a Mossberg 500 in 12-gauge, and it’s comforting to know that I have an “alley-broom” that I can also use to hunt our little feathered friends with. Necessary though? Not really.
Those wacky survivalist-types!
I grew up in the Ozark “mountains” of northern Arkansas, in the 1980s. Think “Shepherd of the Hills.” It was a lot like I imagine growing up in Northern Idaho during the same timeframe was. It was a cultural “mish-mash” of people on the fringes of politics, both hard-right and hard-left. Both sides however, seemed to share a pretty common theme of anti-government, live-and-let-live self-reliant living as an underlying philosophy.
As a result of that (as well as having a paternal grandfather who was/is a “doomsday prophet” type), I have always been a bit of a “closet survivalist.” I do believe that things have gotten progressively worse in a socio-economic and political sense. I don’t think it’s gonna get better any time soon either.
Too many people have gotten too comfortable with a life of ease, waiting for the government to give them shit for “free.” Even our sense of right and wrong has been warped. As an atheist, I certainly don’t believe that the Ten Commandments are the “Word of God,” but I think they are a pretty decent set of social survival rules, and were shared by most of mankind. Now, we make excuses for people who do horrible, evil shit. Fuck that.
It’s gonna get hell-for-worse before it gets better though. At the rate that our economy is plummeting, with only moderate hiccups of recovery, and the media making excuses for acts of terrorism within our own borders, in an attempt to keep people from righteous anger, I don’t see how it can’t. People just don’t give a shit. Half of them only care if they have their internet and satellite television services uninterrupted, while the other half are too busy struggling to feed their kids to give a shit.
About every three or four months, as a result of all this, I go into my “closet survivalist” mode, and start trying to make sure I’ve got my shit together, just in case it all goes to hell in a hurry. It’s sort of a WTSHTF or TEOTWAWKI cramming session. I always come up short on the materials list, though I’m typically pretty confident in my skills sets.
I’ll recognize that I don’t have enough food stored (sometime no food stored! EEK!), or I don’t have enough medical equipment and supplies, or enough ammunition stockpiled to last through one serious Katrina-type situation. My vehicle isn’t adequate, etc. There is always something…
Then, I look at the skills sets side of the coin and realize that I’m really better off than 99.9% of the population, including most “survivalists,” (or “preppers” which is, apparently the term du jour of the “movement.”
I believe there are some key areas that you need to be pretty well-rounded in, in order to have a chance at survival. Food procurement and production (including animal husbandry and gardening), water procurement, shelter construction (clothing falls into the shelter zone in so many ways), fire (construction and –fighting), security and protection (including medical skills, which are as important, if not more so, than pure fighting ability and force protection issues), navigation and travel (including map and compass work, methods of travel, etc), and a few more. I’ve got a solid background in most of these; at least as much as one guy can hope to have. I’ve taken Heinlein serious, at least in that regard.
I grew up on several small places that any “survivalist” would recognize as “retreat homesteads.” We built our own structures, raised most of our own food, and cleared a lot of the land as well. My mother’s ex-husband was a stone mason (remarkably enough, considering his status as a waste of oxygen in all other regards, he was a damned fine stonemason as well), and we learned a great deal of that trade. I learned to run a backhoe at around age 12.
I attended the Level C SERE Course at Ft. Bragg/Camp Mackall, North Carolina. I won’t go into details about it, like a good little soldier, but it is more of a “survival” school than BOSS or some of the “Rabbitstick” type courses ever dreamed of being, even though it doesn’t go much for “let’s play bushman” type primitive-living stuff like they do.
I later taught primitive living skills and wilderness survival (Yep, the “let’s play bushman” type!) in the mountains and deserts of Southern Utah. I taught young people how to track and trap game, how to read a map and compass, how to build fires and prepare food over them, how to build expedient shelters (and how to repair them in 50mph winds, during a blizzard in one instance, while everyone else stayed huddled in their sleeping bags.), and more.
I worked as a ranch cowboy and a horse trainer for several years. I’ve started more than 500 colts under saddle and to harness. I’ve roped thousands of cattle on pasture and in the pens. I’ve been bucked off a pile of horses too. I can shoe a horse better than most school-trained farriers, and can doctor a horse or a cow better than the vet. I’m a decent shade-tree mechanic, whether the work needs to be done on a tractor, backhoe, or a pickup truck (in a pinch, I can work on the engines of irrigation pivots. I can build and repair fence, whether it’s wood, iron pipe, or barbed wire. I can even weld!
I spent a significant amount of time as a framing carpenter, and have actually framed and finished a half-dozen small houses by myself, with just one apprentice/helper. I can run a chainsaw and an axe like an old-time lumberjack (plus, I can use a team of workhorses to drag it out of the woods!)
I can sew and cook. I can paddle a canoe, row a boat, or travel on snowshoes. I can speak Spanish (important even for a “survivalist” in today’s world!).
All in all, I feel pretty confident in my abilities with regards to TEOTWAWKI. I’d like to have more in the way of material preparations, but I’ve spent too much time learning new skills to really procure and store as much as a lot of folks have.
In regards to this post, some of the future Primitive Power posts will probably be about “preparedness” and “survivalism.” I’ve got a few notes already put together, that I’m going to go ahead and post shortly.
As a result of that (as well as having a paternal grandfather who was/is a “doomsday prophet” type), I have always been a bit of a “closet survivalist.” I do believe that things have gotten progressively worse in a socio-economic and political sense. I don’t think it’s gonna get better any time soon either.
Too many people have gotten too comfortable with a life of ease, waiting for the government to give them shit for “free.” Even our sense of right and wrong has been warped. As an atheist, I certainly don’t believe that the Ten Commandments are the “Word of God,” but I think they are a pretty decent set of social survival rules, and were shared by most of mankind. Now, we make excuses for people who do horrible, evil shit. Fuck that.
It’s gonna get hell-for-worse before it gets better though. At the rate that our economy is plummeting, with only moderate hiccups of recovery, and the media making excuses for acts of terrorism within our own borders, in an attempt to keep people from righteous anger, I don’t see how it can’t. People just don’t give a shit. Half of them only care if they have their internet and satellite television services uninterrupted, while the other half are too busy struggling to feed their kids to give a shit.
About every three or four months, as a result of all this, I go into my “closet survivalist” mode, and start trying to make sure I’ve got my shit together, just in case it all goes to hell in a hurry. It’s sort of a WTSHTF or TEOTWAWKI cramming session. I always come up short on the materials list, though I’m typically pretty confident in my skills sets.
I’ll recognize that I don’t have enough food stored (sometime no food stored! EEK!), or I don’t have enough medical equipment and supplies, or enough ammunition stockpiled to last through one serious Katrina-type situation. My vehicle isn’t adequate, etc. There is always something…
Then, I look at the skills sets side of the coin and realize that I’m really better off than 99.9% of the population, including most “survivalists,” (or “preppers” which is, apparently the term du jour of the “movement.”
I believe there are some key areas that you need to be pretty well-rounded in, in order to have a chance at survival. Food procurement and production (including animal husbandry and gardening), water procurement, shelter construction (clothing falls into the shelter zone in so many ways), fire (construction and –fighting), security and protection (including medical skills, which are as important, if not more so, than pure fighting ability and force protection issues), navigation and travel (including map and compass work, methods of travel, etc), and a few more. I’ve got a solid background in most of these; at least as much as one guy can hope to have. I’ve taken Heinlein serious, at least in that regard.
I grew up on several small places that any “survivalist” would recognize as “retreat homesteads.” We built our own structures, raised most of our own food, and cleared a lot of the land as well. My mother’s ex-husband was a stone mason (remarkably enough, considering his status as a waste of oxygen in all other regards, he was a damned fine stonemason as well), and we learned a great deal of that trade. I learned to run a backhoe at around age 12.
I attended the Level C SERE Course at Ft. Bragg/Camp Mackall, North Carolina. I won’t go into details about it, like a good little soldier, but it is more of a “survival” school than BOSS or some of the “Rabbitstick” type courses ever dreamed of being, even though it doesn’t go much for “let’s play bushman” type primitive-living stuff like they do.
I later taught primitive living skills and wilderness survival (Yep, the “let’s play bushman” type!) in the mountains and deserts of Southern Utah. I taught young people how to track and trap game, how to read a map and compass, how to build fires and prepare food over them, how to build expedient shelters (and how to repair them in 50mph winds, during a blizzard in one instance, while everyone else stayed huddled in their sleeping bags.), and more.
I worked as a ranch cowboy and a horse trainer for several years. I’ve started more than 500 colts under saddle and to harness. I’ve roped thousands of cattle on pasture and in the pens. I’ve been bucked off a pile of horses too. I can shoe a horse better than most school-trained farriers, and can doctor a horse or a cow better than the vet. I’m a decent shade-tree mechanic, whether the work needs to be done on a tractor, backhoe, or a pickup truck (in a pinch, I can work on the engines of irrigation pivots. I can build and repair fence, whether it’s wood, iron pipe, or barbed wire. I can even weld!
I spent a significant amount of time as a framing carpenter, and have actually framed and finished a half-dozen small houses by myself, with just one apprentice/helper. I can run a chainsaw and an axe like an old-time lumberjack (plus, I can use a team of workhorses to drag it out of the woods!)
I can sew and cook. I can paddle a canoe, row a boat, or travel on snowshoes. I can speak Spanish (important even for a “survivalist” in today’s world!).
All in all, I feel pretty confident in my abilities with regards to TEOTWAWKI. I’d like to have more in the way of material preparations, but I’ve spent too much time learning new skills to really procure and store as much as a lot of folks have.
In regards to this post, some of the future Primitive Power posts will probably be about “preparedness” and “survivalism.” I’ve got a few notes already put together, that I’m going to go ahead and post shortly.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
You roll too much!
Traditional combat sports like boxing, wrestling, and judo as well as more recent evolutions such as Brazilian Jiujitsu, are far more successful in real fights than "martial arts" like karate and taekwondo. There is a reason for this...
It's not really the techniques of these arts, since there is only a finite number of ways to move four limbs through space in relation to another body that allow you to cause damage. On an important level, the punches of taekwondo really aren't that different from the punches of western boxing. They both strike with the knuckles and they both travel along similar paths through space. Nevertheless, there is a statistically significant difference between the success levels of, let's say, Brazilian Jiujitsu and...Wally Jay's Small-Circle Jiujitsu. Both rely on submission holds and are grappling. Hell, both are Jiujitsu! Yet, they are drastically different.
Of course, most people interested in the subject are aware that the real difference is in the training method. That difference is that modern martial arts and combat sports allow practitioners the ability to practice the techniques at full-speed, full-force, against a resisting opponent.
The "jumping-spinning-reverse-outside-crescent-butterfly-kick" of "Who-Flung-Poo-Kung-Fu" falls apart as a viable fighting technique as soon as the opponent resists. It looks pretty, but it just doesn't work! It requires too much cooperation of the opponent. As soon as a bigger, faster, or stronger opponent jams the kick, the kicker ends up going ass-over-teakettle and being on the recieving end of a "Berkeley Stomp." (Think the beginning of American History X, when Edward Norton's character makes the black gangbanger place his open mouth against the curb before stomping on the back of his head!)
I have a student that we'll call "Suzie." Suzie is an 18 year old college freshman. She's 5'2" tall and weighs about 110 pounds....in jeans, shoes, and a heavy hoodie sweatshirt. She has no athletic background.
I have another student that we'll call "Collin." He is also an 18 year old college freshman (they went to HS together actually....). Collin though, is 6'2" and 240+ pounds. He played HS football, on the offensive line, and wrestled his sophomore year.
"Traditional martial arts" like taekwondo will tell you that, using their patented, secret techniques, Suzie can defeat Collin. They tell her that using a reverse punch, if she focuses her "chi" will allow her to punch or kick hard enough to injure Collin. They never allow the two of them to spar full-contact though, because they know, down deep, that it just doesn't work. It's bullshit!
I've watched Suzie use the hip heist sweep and the elevator sweep from the guard to reverse the bottom position consistently, while rolling against Collin, going full-speed. She KNOWS that this shit works, because she uses it successfully every time she trains. She can pull off a kimura lock against someone as big as Collin, and she knows it...because she's done it.
2) The second benefit of rolling as a training tool is that it develops genuine confidence in the fighter's ability. Suzie KNOWS that she can fight someone who weighs twice her bodyweight. She does it regularly. If she was studying taekwondo, she'd go years without sparring full-force, if she ever got the opportunity to do so...
This confidence allows her to use her training successfully in self-defense. She can stay calm and think her way through a situation, because she knows her skill level, and she knows that it really works. She's not forced to overcompensate by being "too" brutal or going ballistic before there is a genuine threat.
These are just two of the most important benefits that I've noticed after 20 years in this game. From judo and boxing to the last fifteen years of BJJ training, I've seen the value of rolling, or sparring, as a training tool.
There is a drawback to it though...too many coaches use it too much.
HOLY SHIT! DID I JUST SAY THAT COACHES HAVE THEIR FIGHTERS ROLL TOO MUCH?
You're goddamned right I did.
I don't know if it's laziness, or ignorance of better coaching methods, or just a desire to "train the way the teacher did." I don't really care either. It's a shitty method. Throwing brand-new beginners into the mix, rolling, is fucking stupid.
Contemporary sports science tells us that it takes several thousand repetitions of a specific skill in order to program it into the neural pathways for proprioceptive comprehension. Yet, coaches have their students, who might have drilled any given technique less than 50 times, jump in and try to use it while rolling. Then they expect them to succeed.
It doesn't work that way. What happens is they get pummeled by more advanced, or just bigger students, and what techniques they do try to apply fall apart completely. It's even harder to reprogram poorly programmed techniques than it is to program new techniques, but that's essentially what happens in gyms throughout the world daily. No fucking wonder it takes people ten years to earn a black belt. They use piss-poor teaching methods.
At Triumph Martial Arts, even though I've been taught BJJ the same way, we use a more modern training method. New students don't roll. They drill the fundamental techniques over and over. For the first month or two..sometimes three, they don't do anything but drill specific techniques, with little resistance from their partner.
Then, they'll slowly start being introduced to resistance through positional sparring drills. The "Guard Game" is one example. It is a pretty basic Jits drill, yet one I don't see used often enough. The guy on the bottom has to try and sweep or submit the fighter on top. The fighter on top, at the same time, has to try and pass guard. As soon as one or the other succeeds, they switch positions and start again. Basic positional sparring drills like this might make up the remainder of the first six months of training in some cases. (Usually it only takes about a month of this though.)
Once the student has demonstrated the ability to consistently use proper technique against a resisting opponent, under these controlled circumstances, then they will graduate to free-sparring, or what most people think of when they think of "rolling."
Even with advanced students though, only 5-10 minutes, at the end of a class period, will be spent free-sparring. Instead, most of a given class will be spent drilling basic techniques, with maybe one new technique introduced each week. Complete and total mastery of a few techniques is far more important than a passing familiarity with a whole slew of techniques.
I've found it to be a pretty efficient teaching and learning model. Let me know what YOU think though!
It's not really the techniques of these arts, since there is only a finite number of ways to move four limbs through space in relation to another body that allow you to cause damage. On an important level, the punches of taekwondo really aren't that different from the punches of western boxing. They both strike with the knuckles and they both travel along similar paths through space. Nevertheless, there is a statistically significant difference between the success levels of, let's say, Brazilian Jiujitsu and...Wally Jay's Small-Circle Jiujitsu. Both rely on submission holds and are grappling. Hell, both are Jiujitsu! Yet, they are drastically different.
Of course, most people interested in the subject are aware that the real difference is in the training method. That difference is that modern martial arts and combat sports allow practitioners the ability to practice the techniques at full-speed, full-force, against a resisting opponent.
The "jumping-spinning-reverse-outside-crescent-butterfly-kick" of "Who-Flung-Poo-Kung-Fu" falls apart as a viable fighting technique as soon as the opponent resists. It looks pretty, but it just doesn't work! It requires too much cooperation of the opponent. As soon as a bigger, faster, or stronger opponent jams the kick, the kicker ends up going ass-over-teakettle and being on the recieving end of a "Berkeley Stomp." (Think the beginning of American History X, when Edward Norton's character makes the black gangbanger place his open mouth against the curb before stomping on the back of his head!)
I have a student that we'll call "Suzie." Suzie is an 18 year old college freshman. She's 5'2" tall and weighs about 110 pounds....in jeans, shoes, and a heavy hoodie sweatshirt. She has no athletic background.
I have another student that we'll call "Collin." He is also an 18 year old college freshman (they went to HS together actually....). Collin though, is 6'2" and 240+ pounds. He played HS football, on the offensive line, and wrestled his sophomore year.
"Traditional martial arts" like taekwondo will tell you that, using their patented, secret techniques, Suzie can defeat Collin. They tell her that using a reverse punch, if she focuses her "chi" will allow her to punch or kick hard enough to injure Collin. They never allow the two of them to spar full-contact though, because they know, down deep, that it just doesn't work. It's bullshit!
I've watched Suzie use the hip heist sweep and the elevator sweep from the guard to reverse the bottom position consistently, while rolling against Collin, going full-speed. She KNOWS that this shit works, because she uses it successfully every time she trains. She can pull off a kimura lock against someone as big as Collin, and she knows it...because she's done it.
2) The second benefit of rolling as a training tool is that it develops genuine confidence in the fighter's ability. Suzie KNOWS that she can fight someone who weighs twice her bodyweight. She does it regularly. If she was studying taekwondo, she'd go years without sparring full-force, if she ever got the opportunity to do so...
This confidence allows her to use her training successfully in self-defense. She can stay calm and think her way through a situation, because she knows her skill level, and she knows that it really works. She's not forced to overcompensate by being "too" brutal or going ballistic before there is a genuine threat.
These are just two of the most important benefits that I've noticed after 20 years in this game. From judo and boxing to the last fifteen years of BJJ training, I've seen the value of rolling, or sparring, as a training tool.
There is a drawback to it though...too many coaches use it too much.
HOLY SHIT! DID I JUST SAY THAT COACHES HAVE THEIR FIGHTERS ROLL TOO MUCH?
You're goddamned right I did.
I don't know if it's laziness, or ignorance of better coaching methods, or just a desire to "train the way the teacher did." I don't really care either. It's a shitty method. Throwing brand-new beginners into the mix, rolling, is fucking stupid.
Contemporary sports science tells us that it takes several thousand repetitions of a specific skill in order to program it into the neural pathways for proprioceptive comprehension. Yet, coaches have their students, who might have drilled any given technique less than 50 times, jump in and try to use it while rolling. Then they expect them to succeed.
It doesn't work that way. What happens is they get pummeled by more advanced, or just bigger students, and what techniques they do try to apply fall apart completely. It's even harder to reprogram poorly programmed techniques than it is to program new techniques, but that's essentially what happens in gyms throughout the world daily. No fucking wonder it takes people ten years to earn a black belt. They use piss-poor teaching methods.
At Triumph Martial Arts, even though I've been taught BJJ the same way, we use a more modern training method. New students don't roll. They drill the fundamental techniques over and over. For the first month or two..sometimes three, they don't do anything but drill specific techniques, with little resistance from their partner.
Then, they'll slowly start being introduced to resistance through positional sparring drills. The "Guard Game" is one example. It is a pretty basic Jits drill, yet one I don't see used often enough. The guy on the bottom has to try and sweep or submit the fighter on top. The fighter on top, at the same time, has to try and pass guard. As soon as one or the other succeeds, they switch positions and start again. Basic positional sparring drills like this might make up the remainder of the first six months of training in some cases. (Usually it only takes about a month of this though.)
Once the student has demonstrated the ability to consistently use proper technique against a resisting opponent, under these controlled circumstances, then they will graduate to free-sparring, or what most people think of when they think of "rolling."
Even with advanced students though, only 5-10 minutes, at the end of a class period, will be spent free-sparring. Instead, most of a given class will be spent drilling basic techniques, with maybe one new technique introduced each week. Complete and total mastery of a few techniques is far more important than a passing familiarity with a whole slew of techniques.
I've found it to be a pretty efficient teaching and learning model. Let me know what YOU think though!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Accountability
I am a strength and conditioning coach (plus teaching a boxing class and an MMA/unarmed combatives class) here in Portlnd, Oregon. Other than my supposed expertise regarding nutrition, training methods and supplementation (which basically anyone can acquire with a little effort and study), one of the biggest services I provide my clientele is accountability.
They know they have someone who is keeping track of how often they are in the gym training and how much effort they are putting into it. It keeps them driven, because most of us don't want to let someone down. We'll work harder to appease someone else's image of us than we will to achieve our own goals.
Today was the first time all week that I've worked out. For the last three weeks, I've averaged one strength training session per week. That's not anywhere near enough to maintain my strength, let alone continue to improve it. My squat weight remained the same, but my push-press dropped from 205lbx5 to 155lbx5. Ouch.
So, I'm going to start putting my workouts up here, in the hope that somehow it will help me to remain accountable. So, if you happen to read this and realize that I haven't posted a training session in a while, drop me a line and chew my ass!
I'm lifting 5 days a week (3x/week primary lifts- BB Back Squats, BB Deadlifts, BB PowerCleans, and BB Push-Press/Overhead Press, plus weighted sit-ups, weighted dips, and chin-ups. 2x/week auxiliary strength training- neck work, forearm work, extra ab/core work).
I'm doing Jitz on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I'm working on my Crazy Monkey Defense Boxing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
My cardio is pretty well limited to Guerrilla Cardio/Tabata Intervals. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I'm doing 3x sets of Tabata Intervals on the treadmill. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I'm doing 3x sets of Tabata Intervals of kettlebell swings.
If that doesn't get me back to elite status again in a hurry, it's because I'm overtraining. I don't believe in overtraining. I believe in not eating or sleeping enough! We'll see.
Keep me accountable!
They know they have someone who is keeping track of how often they are in the gym training and how much effort they are putting into it. It keeps them driven, because most of us don't want to let someone down. We'll work harder to appease someone else's image of us than we will to achieve our own goals.
Today was the first time all week that I've worked out. For the last three weeks, I've averaged one strength training session per week. That's not anywhere near enough to maintain my strength, let alone continue to improve it. My squat weight remained the same, but my push-press dropped from 205lbx5 to 155lbx5. Ouch.
So, I'm going to start putting my workouts up here, in the hope that somehow it will help me to remain accountable. So, if you happen to read this and realize that I haven't posted a training session in a while, drop me a line and chew my ass!
I'm lifting 5 days a week (3x/week primary lifts- BB Back Squats, BB Deadlifts, BB PowerCleans, and BB Push-Press/Overhead Press, plus weighted sit-ups, weighted dips, and chin-ups. 2x/week auxiliary strength training- neck work, forearm work, extra ab/core work).
I'm doing Jitz on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I'm working on my Crazy Monkey Defense Boxing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
My cardio is pretty well limited to Guerrilla Cardio/Tabata Intervals. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I'm doing 3x sets of Tabata Intervals on the treadmill. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I'm doing 3x sets of Tabata Intervals of kettlebell swings.
If that doesn't get me back to elite status again in a hurry, it's because I'm overtraining. I don't believe in overtraining. I believe in not eating or sleeping enough! We'll see.
Keep me accountable!
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