I got this picture today from a friend of the fires east of Austin.
Horrific fires in Texas, horrible flooding in Pennsylvania, there's been some sudden disasters here lately. I'll be doing a post on a grab & go plan and kit this weekend.
Assaults on Freedom
I usually keep politics out of here, but every now and then, something comes up that I just need to speak up about. I consider myself a "little 'l' libertarian" and I really see that personal freedoms are a part of survivalism and preparedness. This article out of Ogden, Utah really got my blood boiling today. A man was butchering a cow in his driveway and a neighbor called the police. It's no different than a Greek family butchering a goat or a hunter butchering his deer. What got me the worst was the police lieutenant saying, "It boggles my mind. It's not illegal, but it's absurd that people would think slaughtering a cow in their driveway is OK." If it's NOT illegal, IT IS OK!!! Now the police, health department, and animal control are all working with the district attorney to figure out how to charge this guy with a crime. What kind of bizarro world are we living in?
Mob Violence
How about this report out of Longview, Washington? Five hundred Longshoremen stormed the Port of Washington at 4:30 a.m. where they broke down gates, smashed windows, vandalized rail cars, dumped grain cargo and took six guards hostage for several hours. That is what happens in third world countries, not here. How no one was killed I have no idea.
Giant Faraday Cage
I've written a couple of times about my attempts with Faraday cages. This article in tomorrow's Survival Blog very thoroughly discusses using CONEX shipping containers for large scale Faraday cages. I found it very interesting.
Okay, I'm a bit on the fence about the cow thing. I consider myself a solid libertarian, but still a sensible one. I wrote letters to everyone I could think of to prevent the NAIS proposal from becoming law, but I wouldn't have made a show of not complying. This guy seemed to be making a show of shocking people.
ReplyDeleteYes, it may be his legal right (large animal slaughter has a lot of restrictions on it- at least in our state), but it was also probably poor judgement. In the driveway, right after lunch, on a Sunday? Not good OPSEC.
I'm no PETA fanatic- we "process" our own personally raised chicken, rabbit, turkey, etc. But I would expect my neighbors to have called the police if we had tried to do this in our previous suburban neighborhood. (Ever seen Over the Hedge? We lived there once, Yard Nazi neighbor and all).
I would actually be surprised if farm animals don't violate a city ordinance- it's still illegal within our capital city's limits to own even chickens. And we know from personal experience that if a cow is over a certain age, due to Mad Cow Disease, it has to be handled a certain way.
I'm not saying that private individuals should not have the right to do these things, but if you can't legally do them where you are, vote with your feet and move where you can. You are asking to be put on some govt watchlist with that kind of activity. No one needs that kind of attention.
Good topic for discussion!
Laura
I live in Salt Lake City and this Ogden guy seems a bit crazy doing this in a neighborhood but it is still his right to do it regardless. A little tactless but legal and the police in Ogden are just looking for something to charge him with. They have nothing but they want to show the public that they are in charge. Don't the police have better things to do like catching murderers and bank robbers and the like. This is a great example of our tax dollars not being used for what we pay them for.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking along the same lines. The guy was either totally clueless or he was just trying to get the neighbors riled up for some reason. The police thinking that they need to research to find anything to charge the guy with is the big problem.
ReplyDelete