We’ve completed the judging for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest!

1st Place: Barter, Post-TEOTWAWKI: The Micro Store by Mr. X. which was posted on December 22, 2011. He will receive: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint
Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day
civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government
teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and
C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready
Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

2nd Place: Comprehensive Crisis Communications Planning for the Prepper, by Hammer posted on January 19, 2011

He will receive: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness
gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR)
with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

3rd place: Profitable Homesteading: How to Thrive in a TEOTWAWKI World, by Dusty, January 24, 2012. Dusty will receive:A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

We’ve also selected an unprecedented 18 Honorable Mention Awards! (Each writer will receive a $30 Amazon.com Gift Certificate). The Honorable Mention prize winning articles are:

Canning Food in a Grid-Down World, by Christine C. posted Friday, January 31, 2012

To Shoot or Not to Shoot?, by Mr. White posted January 27, 2012

A Woman’s Journey Towards Firearms Acceptance, by The Little Woman posted January 26, 2012

Trauma School, by John M. posted January 25, 2012

The Overnighters: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You, by Frank C. in California posted January 22, 2012

Self-Sufficient Farming in East Prussia in the 1930s and 1940s, by Mrs. Icebear posted January 20, 2012

Post Collapse Barter: The Rest of the Story, by D.T.R. posted January 15, 2012

Candle Making For Preppers, by Jennifer L. posted January 14, 2012

Survival Fishing 101, by Captain T. posted January 12, 2012

Keeping Honey Bees for Survival, by Michael J. posted December 31, 2011

Horse and Rider, by D.O. posted December 27, 2011

How to Make Homemade Dog Food, by D.M.D. posted December 27, 2011

Childbirth at Home by Kelli S. posted December 25, 2011

Emergency Preparedness for the Frugal Beginner, by Paratrooper John posted December 18, 2011

Getting Prepared For a Disaster on a Tight Budget, by L.G.W. posted December 17, 2011

Sucking Chest Wounds and Exsanguinations, by Walker in the Woods posted December 14, 2011

Building an Armed Response Kit, by Madduck posted December 9, 2011

How to Drain an Abscess, by Lonestar Doc posted December 8, 2011

Note to prize winners: We’ll need e-mail addresses for each of the Honorable Mention prize winners (since your Amazon gift “cards” will arrive via e-mail.) We’ll also need both UPS and USPS addresses for just the top three prize winners. Please e-mail us this info, so we can get your prizes to you. Congratulations!

Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog
non-fiction writing contest. begins today. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint
Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day
civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government
teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and
C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready
Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness
gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR)
with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us
your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills
for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Article source: http://survivalblog.se/2012/02/announcing-winners-for-round-38-of-the-survivalblog-writing-contest.html

The M4 and M4EC are compact, ergonomic, general purpose survey meters capable of detecting alpha, beta, gamma, and x-rays over 3 selectable ranges. A red count light flashes and a beep sounds with each event detected. The Monitor 4EC offers a more linear reading for gamma and x-rays (above 40 keV).Click here for Original Monitor 4. Click here for USB Model.Specifications

Detector
Monitor 4: Halogen-quenched uncompensated GM tube with thin mica window 1.5-2.0 mg/cm2 thick.
Monitor 4EC: Halogen-quenched GM tube, energy compensated sidewall 2mm tin filter. Thin mica window 1.5-2.0 mg/cm² thick.
Display
Analog Meter holds full scale in fields as high as 100X maximum reading. CPM & mR/hr scale. Optional SI Scale Meter Available

Energy Sensitivity:	Operating Range
1000 CPM/mR/hr (Cs137). 4EC is the same as M4 except the energy response for gamma and x-rays through the detector sidewall is flat within +61% or -26% over the range of 40 keV to 100 keV, and within +35% or -17% over the range of 100 keV to 1.3 MeV.	0-.5, 0-5, 0-50 mR/hr 0-500, 0-5,000, 0-50,000 CPM or 0-5, 0-50, 0-500 μSv/hr (SI Scale Meter Option) Range Switch X1, X10, X100, Battery Check. Accuracy Typically ±15% of reading(Cs137)
Monitor 4	Monitor 4EC

Audio Indicator
Internally mounted beeper (can be turned off for silent operation).
Power Requirements
9-volt alkaline battery. Approx. 2,000 hrs. at normal background
Temperature Range
-20° to 55°C (-4° to 131°F)
Weight
M4: 200 g (7.1 oz)
M4EC: 224 g (7.9 oz)
Outputs
3.5 mm headphone jack with pulse out.
Size
209 x 71 x 50 mm (8.2 x 2.8 x 1.9 in.)
Includes
Carrying Case w/ Belt Clip
Options
SI Meter Option, Observer Software, Mini-USB Option w/ USB Observer Software
Limited Warranty
1 year limited warranty
Monitor 4 Kits
Build your own Monitor 4! Learn about how a geiger counter works!

Accessories

Source Article from http://getreadyportland.com/2012/01/31/monitor-4-4ec-handheld-radiation-alert%C2%AE-detector/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=monitor-4-4ec-handheld-radiation-alert%25c2%25ae-detector

We all know how possible a grid down scenario is.  While we have been stuffing our pantries and freezers with food to sustain us, what happens when there is no electricity to run that freezer?  If it is winter time in a northern place then it would be fine and we could use Mother Nature.  But what if you live in a southern area where the temperature does not remain below freezing?

One solution would be to home-can your food. Also home canning is a very inexpensive and frugal way to add to your food stores.  Not to mention you know exactly what goes into those jars.  No bug content in my catsup like there is with the commercial type.  If you have worked in a commercial cannery then you will understand why I do not want to feed that stuff to my family.  It is horrifying to see what is actually deemed “acceptable”.

Let’s start out by talking about the equipment needed.  First thing you would need a good quality canner.  They can be purchased pretty much anywhere.  Most require a rubber gasket between the lid and the pot in order to produce a seal and build the required pressure in order to raise the temperature to a point that pathogens are destroyed inside your jars.  But then what do you do when the gasket fails (they generally last 3-5 years) on your canner and you have no store to go buy another or the internet to order one?   My suggestion would be to invest in a canner that does not require a gasket, or to stockpile several spare parts and gaskets for your canner.  There is one brand of canner that does not require a gasket.  It is the “All American Canner”.  They are quite pricey to buy initially but when you figure many years of service without replacement gaskets the price goes down.  This canner has a machined rim that is so precise that it does not require any kind of gasket.  You have to be careful to not boil it dry and warp it.  But with careful use and care it should last your lifetime.  My canner is 31 years old and still going strong.

Then there are those pesky metal lids that can only be used one time.  Wal-Mart generally carries these lids.  I say generally because last fall my Wal-Mart in our town decided it was past canning season and sent all of theirs back to the warehouse.  Then when I went to the Wal-Mart Supercenter in the next town they were out.  I finally found some at the hardware store in town.  The prices have also gone up on these.  They were .99 cents a dozen a couple years ago and now the cheapest I can find them for is $1.63 when Wal-Mart has them and $2.49 at the hardware store.  So what happens when the grid is down and no stores or internet is available to buy any?  The solution to this is tattler reusable lids.  I have some and plan to buy a lifetime supply soon.  I have experimented with them and they have proved reliable over and over.  They are pricey for the initial investment but over the long run they pay for themselves quite quickly.  They are a 2 piece plastic lid with a rubber gasket.  As long as you do not damage the gasket they will work over and over.  You have to be careful when opening your jar so that the gasket does not get cut with your opener.  They are also tricky in that you have to get used to not tightening the rings down on them until after processing.  The trick is to tighten the ring down and then back it off about ¼ of an inch.  Then you process according to recommended times and pressures.  When you take the jars out of the canner use mitts and tighten each ring down on the jars.  Set your jars on a towel and allow them to cool.  After they have cooled completely then you can remove the rings.  The only other drawback is that you can not write on them.  Since they are reusable writing on the lids would cause a problem the next time you used them.  So after they are cool and you remove the rings make sure the jars are clean and place a small piece of masking tape on the lid and write on it.  Or you can write on the jar itself with a magic marker as this will wash off the glass.  You can get them in a bulk deal for about .50 cents a lid.  Since the metal ones are about .20 cents a lid you can see how fast they would pay for them selves.   It is as easy as picking up the jar once you removed the ring to be sure they have sealed.  If they have not then the lid will come off in your hand and the jar will stay on the counter!

The other equipment you would need is reusable and you would not need to worry so much about replacements.  They are:

Jar lifter
Small pot for boiling the lids
Jar funnel
Water bathing pot for processing pickles and fruit, you can also use your canner without the lid for this, but I like a separate pot to water bath in.
Pot holders or oven mitts
A large ladle for filling jars
A canning book (I like Putting Food By) There are many different ones available.

Now that we got the boring equipment part out of the way we can move on to the good part…

There is a great satisfaction to having your cabinet full of what I call convenience foods.   I like to can food in a way that I can open the jar, heat it up and Presto dinner is ready.  I love to make soup and when I do I make it 5 gallons at a time… I do not add any pasta to it when I make the big batch then I will remove only what we are going to eat for that meal to add the pasta.  (Pasta does not can well it only gets mushy).  Then I can all of the leftovers in quart jars.  Meat loaf, meat balls, barbecued meat, roast in gravy, taco meat, spaghetti sauce with the meat and even left over gravy in jars makes for a very speedy meal and can even be prepared by the less culinary gifted people in your home should you be unable to cook.  Remember that what ever you can always process it for the recommended amount of time for the ingredient requiring the longest processing time.  For example I made venison soup a few days ago.  It had venison, barley and vegetables in the soup.  The venison would require the longest processing time, (90 minutes at 15 lbs for our altitude and for quart jars).  So that is what the soup got processed for. 

When you can meat it does change the flavor and texture a bit.  Using this meat is as easy as opening the jar and draining the liquid.  You can process meat either hot pack (already cooked) or raw pack.  Canned chicken flakes easily for making things like enchiladas and you can buy the lesser cuts of beef that would normally be tough; after you can them they are very tender.  Any kind of left over meat can be canned for use at a later time whether it is the roast and gravy or taco meat.

Canning meat (Raw pack)
Raw pack is the easiest way to can meat.  Simply cut the meat into chunks and pack into the jar leaving about an inch of headspace (the distance from the top of the meat to the top edge of the jar).  Wipe the rim of the jar (you must make sure there are no food particles, grease or chipped rims or it will not seal).  Place a boiled lid on top and screw on a ring.  Then process at the recommended time and pressure. We are at a little over 1000 feet.  I process meat for quarts 90 minutes at 15 lbs and pints for 75 minutes at 15 lbs. You can NOT process meat in a water bath.  It MUST be pressure canned.  When processing raw meat you do not add any liquid.  The broth is made as the meat cooks in the jars.  Begin timing after your canner has reached the correct pressure per your specific canners instructions.  After the timing is over slide your canner to a cool side of the stove and allow it to cool.  Do NOT try to reduce the pressure rapidly by running water on it or helping the pressure to escape.  This will cause seal failure.  After the canner has cooled and there is no longer any pressure inside it then remove the weight and lid.  Using a jar lifter remove the jars to a towel on your counter.  Remember they are VERY hot at this time and you will see the contents still boiling.  If you are using Tattler lids this is the time to tighten the bands down.  After the jars have cooled off (over night) then remove the lids and wash the jars.  The jars may have grease on the outside of them from processing.  Always write on the lid or tape what the contents are and the month/year of processing.  Home canned meat should have a shelf life of about 5 years if done properly.

Canning meat (Hot pack)
This is the way you would can any leftovers.  Heat what ever you are going to process up (Soup, meat and gravy, taco meat, etc).  Then using the jar funnel ladle the food into the jar leaving about 1 inch of headspace.  Then follow the directions above.  Remember to always process for the time required to process the longest amount recommended for any one ingredient.

Canning Meatloaf (Raw pack)
You must use wide mouth pint jars for this.  Otherwise the neck of the jar will not allow your loaf to slide out.  Do not add eggs or fillers (oatmeal, bread crumbs, etc).  Mix your ground meat with the seasonings you wish.  I mix sausage and hamburger together with a can of drained diced tomatoes and a bit of Italian seasoning.
 Then pack the mixture into the jar leaving an inch of headspace.  Wipe the rim. Place on lids and rings then process the recommended time/pressure.  When it is done you will have a nice loaf of cooked meat in a broth with fat on top.  When you are ready to eat it open the jar and drain the liquid.  I like to slice the meatloaf to make sandwiches.

Canning Meat Balls (hot pack)
Make your meatballs (mix meat and seasonings).  Do not add any eggs or fillers.  Bake them in the oven to brown them.  Then place the balls into jars and cover with liquid (I use half strength V8 juice) Process the recommended time/pressure.  The meat balls make a great snack for kids and easy to make meat ball subs, spaghetti, etc.

Canning soup or roast (Hot pack)
Make your soup or roast.  Make sure if you are canning roast that it is cut into small enough pieces to fit into the jar and then come back out easily.  Do not add any pasta to your soup prior to canning.  If you are going to want pasta in your soup then wait and add it after you open the jar.  It is very easy to open the jar heat it to boiling then add a handful of noodles and cook them in the broth.  If you try to can pasta it only gets mushy. 

Canned Gravy: Depending on what you use to thicken your gravy it may thin out and need to be thickened with corn starch after you open the jar.  Corn starch will break down if it is cooked too long so corn starch thickened gravy will also thin back out with processing.

Creature Soup:
Soup has long been a way to cook food for multiple people at a minimum of cost and difficulty.  Soup is a very easy meal to prepare and you do not need frozen or box mixes from the stores to make it (Contrary to popular belief).  The limit to the kinds of soup you make is only limited by your creativity and availability of food stuffs to put in the pot. You can make it with meat or without, with grain, pasta or rice or without, or even with or without vegetables. The art of soup making has literally been around since we discovered fire and started cooking our food.  It really is just a matter of putting various foods into a pot of water and cooking it together.  It can be served hot or cold.  It can be preserved by canning it or freezing it.  It can be cooked on any heat source including a camp fire.  If using an open fire then place the pot over rocks or bricks set over a bed of coals.   Placing it directly over the flame would be too hot.

Remember that in a survival situation Soup has many advantages over canned, store bought ready to eat foods:

1. It can be made with anything you have on hand, can catch, shoot or forage
2. It provides liquid at the same time as the meal to decrease dehydration
3. The salt content of home made soups will be a lot less than that of store bought (excess salt consumption will increase you water requirements)
4. It provides a nutritionally balanced meal that is filling and warming.
5. It can be eaten hot or cold
6. It can be preserved by canning or freezing
7. It can be kept warm on the back of a wood stove or camp fire for your whole family to eat at will.

Disadvantages:

1. You have to cook it
2. You need heat to cook it

Equipment Needed:
Large soup pot with a lid (Mine holds 5 gallons), the thicker the bottom the better
Long wooden spoon, you want to be able to stir and scrape the bottom when the pot is full
Heat Source
Water
Any kind of meat, vegetables, grain, seasonings

Creature Soup (Recipe)

You will need:
1 large soup pot
1 long wooden spoon
A heat source for cooking (camp fire or wood stove will work just fine)
1 creature killed, cleaned and cut into pieces (any small mammal: rabbit, squirrel, raccoon, or even a piece of a larger creature such as a deer shoulder, etc)
Water to fill your pot
Vegetables (any kind will do) or cat tail shoots cleaned and cut up
Grain (any kind barley, steel cut oats, cracked wheat, rice etc)
Spices (what ever strikes your fancy and is available i.e.: Onions, celery, peppers, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, thyme, rosemary, etc)
Pasta if you want

Place your creature, seasonings and water into the pot.  Make sure there is enough water to thoroughly cover the creature by several inches.  Cook slowly over a low heat with the lid on.  In order to make a rich broth and have tender meat you will need to simmer it (not boiling) on low for several hours.  Keep adding water as necessary to keep water over your meat by several inches.  Once you notice the meat falling off the bones take it out and set it aside. By now the broth should smell yummy and have a nice rich color to it.  If it is too weak for your taste you can add some bouillon.   Tomatoes make a nice broth also.  Add your grain to the pot at this time. Continue cooking slowly at a simmer.  Stir frequently, as the grain cooks it will have a tendency to stick on the bottom and burn.
When the creature is cooled enough so that you can handle it remove all the meat off the bones, cut it into small pieces, across the grain of the meat and replace the meat into the pot.
Watch the grain.  It will take a couple hours at a simmer to cook the grains until they are soft.  If you are using fresh vegetables, add them when the grain still has a bit of a crunch to it.  If you are using canned vegetables then add them when the grain has cooked to a soft texture and continue to simmer only to heat them up.  Add pasta last as it only requires a few minutes of boiling to cook.
This soup will provide a filling nutritious meal.  Any leftovers may be canned into quart jars for eating at a later time. Always process your jars for the recommended time for the ingredient requiring the longest processing. If you are cooking it on a woodstove the soup pot can be kept on the back corner so as to keep it warm for several hours.  Stir and add water as needed to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot or drying out.

You can even can Bacon slices, bacon bits, etc.  What you put into jars really is as great as your culinary skills and imagination.  It is a great way to utilize leftovers so that they are not wasted and a great way to add to your food stores without spending a lot of money on store bought canned meat.  Just remember to always process the safe time and pressure for your altitude for the ingredient that requires the longest processing.  Also remember that spices tend to get stronger after canning.  So if you think there is a little too much oregano in your meat balls you need to add more meat before you process or your meat balls will really have too much oregano when you are done.

Problems with canning:

Then there are the problems that will arise while you are canning.  You know it is always easier said than done.  Trouble shooting a canner can be frustrating if you have no idea what is wrong and there may be no one you can ask.  The first thing you need to do is to get familiar with the various parts of your specific canner.  Generally most canners have parts that are similar.  You have the pot and the lid.  The pot is just that the pot.  It has locking lugs that align with the lid in order to lock down the lid and keep it from blowing off during processing.  The lid however has many parts:  The lid, the handles, the stem, the weight, possibly a gasket, possibly a gauge, a high pressure relief, a locking mechanism, possibly wing nut clamps.

Here are some problems you may encounter and possible causes and solutions:

Problem:  The lid will not fit on right
            Possible cause and solution

1. The locking lugs are not properly lined up
1. Place the lid on top of the canner with the lid handles a little off set from the pot handles.  Line up the lugs by sliding it back and forth until the lugs fit together and the lid slides down.  Then turn the lid until the handles on the pot and the lid line up.
2. If your lid doesn’t not want to slide easily once it has seated on the lugs then coat the gasket with a small amount of vegetable oil to help the gasket to slide on the pot.

Problem: Canner will not reach correct pressure.
Turn off your burner and Slide the canner to a cool spot to cool down before trouble shooting the problem.

Possible cause and solutions:

1. Gasket not sealing
1. Soak gasket in hot water for 15 minutes
2. if gasket seems loose on the lid then you can stretch the gasket by working your way around with both hands pulling on it
3. try a coating of vegetable oil
4. Replace gasket
2. not enough heat
1. Increase heat
3. If you have a canner with wing nut type clamps then it is possible one of your clamps is not tight.

Problem: Old faithful erupting on stove. 
Steam is pouring out from under the lid.  Slide the canner to a cool spot to cool down before trouble shooting the problem.

            Possible causes and solutions

1. Lid locking mechanism did not lock
1. Try Jiggling the lid to get the mechanism to lock.  Some canners are very picky about the lid placement and this mechanism.
2. Food is hung in the lid lock mechanism
1. Make sure your lid and jars are clean before processing.
2. Check the gasket, under the gasket and the lid lock mechanism for pieces of food.
3. Gasket not sealing
1. Soak gasket in hot water for 15 minutes
2. if gasket seems loose on the lid then you can stretch the gasket by working your way around with both hands pulling on it
3. try a coating of vegetable oil
4. Replace gasket if it is dry, hard, cracked or torn.
4. If you have a canner with wing nut type clamps then it is possible one of your clamps is not tight.

Problem: The high pressure valve just popped
(Hurry and throw a damp rag on top of the valve so that you do not lose your jars, do not get your hand in the way of the steam it will burn you).  Slide the canner to a cool spot to cool down before trouble shooting the problem.

Possible causes and solutions

1. Stem is clogged
1. Always make sure your pot and lid is clean before you use it and make sure your jars are clean when you put them in.

Problem: The pressure regulator quit jiggling and is now just blowing a steady stream of steam
            Possible cause and solution

1. Too much pressure in pot
1. Turn down your fire a bit, this will take trial and error to get just the right amount of heat

Problem: The pressure regulator quit jiggling and is not blowing steam out
            Possible cause and solution

1. not enough pressure in the pot
1. Turn up your fire a bit, this will take trial and error to get just the right amount of heat

Problem:  You just bought a new gasket for your Mirro Canner and now it won’t seal or the gasket only lasts a few times of running the canner before it fails again.
            Possible cause and solution

1. Turn your pot over and look at the manufacturing date.  It will generally be stamped on the bottom of the pot somewhere. The Mirro 22qt made before 1983 requires a different gasket than is sold at the hardware store now.  You probably have the wrong gasket.  There are several sites on the internet that sells the older replacements.  You can call the manufacturer to make sure of what part you need.  Gaskets that are used regularly should last 3-5 years.  Usually what causes them to fail is not using them and they dry out.

Problem:  Lids not sealing
            Possible causes and solutions

1. Rims not clean when lids are placed on
1. Wipe the rims with a clean damp cloth before placing your hot lids on them
2. Pressure being dropped too fast
1. Never drop the pressure artificially.  Allow the pot to cool on its own.  By dropping the pressure it causes negative pressure in your pot and will pull the jar contents out into the pot from under the lids.
3. Using used metal lids
1. Never reuse a metal lid.  The only lids suitable for repeated use are Tattler lids with gaskets.
4. Not enough headspace
1. Leave about ¾’s of an inch between the top of your food and the top of your jar.  The jars will boil in the canner and if you do not have enough empty space in the jar then the contents will be pushed out of the jar causing grease and food to get under the lid.
5. Rings not tight on metal lids
1. Tighten rings over metal lids prior to processing
6. Rings too tight on tattler lids before processing or not tightened down after processing.
1. Tighten and then back off the rings over a Tattler lid ¼ inch then tighten the rings after the jars are processed and removed from the canner.  Use an oven mitt the jars are HOT!!!

Remember: if at any time you lose the pressure in your pot you have to start re-timing the food from the time you rebuild pressure!!

Remember: Always let the canner vent steam for at least 10 minutes before placing the weight on the stem.  This allows the air to evacuate the pot and makes sure the stem is clear.

Remember:  Always make sure your canner is clean and the jars are clean before canning or you can clog your stem.  Inspect it before each use.

Remember:  Always make sure you have enough water in the pot to run the entire processing time.  If you let a canner run dry you will warp the pot and break your jars.

Remember:  NEVER drop the pressure purposely by removing the weight or running cold water over the pot.  Always allow the pot to cool naturally by only sliding it to the cool side of your stove or counter.  Failure to do this can cause steam/burn injuries, broken jars and seal failure.

Remember: Any time there is a problem with your canner gently and carefully slide it to a cool place and then leave it alone until the pressure has subsided.  If too much pressure builds it will make a howling sound from the steam escaping the escape valve or from under the lid.  The escaping steam will burn you!!!

Article source: http://survivalblog.se/2012/01/canning-food-in-a-grid-down-world-by-christine-c.html

For decades, within the annals of Ufology, countless types of apparent alien entity have been reported by startled witnesses to UFOs and their other-worldly crews. The list of extraterrestrial life forms is truly bizarre and includes beings that resemble (a) huge, flying jellyfish; (b) oversized bananas; (c) the Michelin Man; and (d) long-nosed, scrawny humanoids with glowing red eyes. But, such beings are most assuredly not typical of those reported in the vast majority of close encounters of the ufological kind. Indeed, they are firmly in the minority. Dominating the UFO scene are without doubt the human-looking Space-Brothers, the insect-like Grays, and the sinister Reptilians. But, there are a surprising number of reports on file describing giant-sized aliens, too…

While the tales of alien giants most certainly do not attract the same sort of attention and acclaim as their long-haired cousins did way back in the Contactee-driven era of the 1950s, and the emotionless Grays do today, that does not mean such issues are of no consequence. In fact, one could convincingly argue quite the opposite!

Two such notable cases emanate from with the British Isles; the details of one of which were given to Charles Bowen, a former editor of Flying Saucer Review magazine, and that were duly published in a classic book on alien entities that Bowen edited himself, The Humanoids.

The year was 1958 and the location was very near to Balmoral, Scotland. As part of their basic training, an Aberdeen-based unit of the Territorial Army had been dispatched to the area in question to take part in a weekend of maneuvers.

During the course of the exercise, two of the group were deployed to guard a small hilltop and, fully equipped, set about digging themselves a trench for cover. On the first morning, just as dawn was breaking, both heard what they later described as a strange “gurgling” sound that seemed to originate from behind a dense group of trees, several hundred yards from their position. Unsurprisingly somewhat curious, they set out to investigate, when two giant, humanoid figures suddenly emerged from the shadows and proceeded towards them in ominous, lumbering fashion.

Naturally overcome with overwhelming terror, the pair hastily retreated. As they ran in panicked style, they heard a “swishing noise,” and glancing over their shoulders saw a gigantic, disc-shaped object in the sky above which appeared to be following them. Reportedly “pulsating,” the UFO swooped low over their heads and – to the complete and utter relief of the pair – quickly disappeared, curiously trailing a shower of sparks as it vanished from view.

A similar case, involving the Schwab family, who was then living in the English city of Bath, occurred late one weekend night in mid March 1978, while they were attending a family get-together in the county of Wiltshire. While driving passed the legendary Stonehenge around 11.00 p.m., they were shocked to the core by the startling sight of a “twelve-foot-tall thing, like a giant man,” standing in the middle of the road.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Schwab brought the car to a rapid, screeching halt, and he, his wife and son watched amazed as a bright light from above suddenly enveloped the mighty being, and which ‘”lit it up and we could see it was like me and you, but twice as tall and in a silver suit and two big eyes [sic].”

Even more startling, the huge creature then began to slowly rise into the beam of light – which, the three could now see, was “coming out of the bottom of a big square-shaped object in the sky, and black [in color] that hummed so loud and made us all feel sick.”

Within seconds, the giant and the beam of light were gone, and the mysterious craft duly soared into the heavens, leaving the Schwab family wondering what on earth – or, very possibly, off it – had just happened.

Rogue cases of Goliath-like aliens in decades past may not attract the same levels of attention and fascination as those of today’s alleged DNA-stealing, pasty, skinny, denizens of Zeta Reticuli, but that does not mean they are without merit.

After all, if extraterrestrials are visiting us, then perhaps – just like us, the Human Race – they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes!

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/C2C-InTheNews/~3/wGoMapQwiis/

George Washington may have been America’s first president, but was he nearly America’s first zombie-in-chief? If William Thornton, physician and designer of the US Capitol, had had his way, Washington’s body would have been subjected a scientific experiment designed to bring the deceased former president back to life.

Image: Zombie George Washington by Plemon Studios. Zombie president prints available on Etsy.

In December 1799, 67-year-old George Washington took a ride through the wet winter rain and, shortly afterward, developed a fever and a sore throat. When his condition became so bad that Washington could no longer swallow the concoctions of vinegar, molasses, and butter with which he was trying to treat himself, Washington called in his livestock and slave overseer, who drained three-quarters of a pint of blood from the ailing man. When bleeding failed to have the desired effect, three physicians were called in, all of whom recommended emetics and — you guessed it — more blood to be drawn. Over the brief course of his treatment, Washington’s stomach and bowels were repeatedly evacuated and the puncture-happy docs took nearly two and a half liters of blood. Just two days after that fateful morning ride, Washington closed his eyes for the final time, after telling his doctors, “I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.”

But Washington’s body was not buried immediately after his death. The president may not have feared death, but he did fear being buried alive. Before he died, he commanded his secretary, Tobias Lear, to make sure that he would not be entombed less than three days after he died. In accordance with Washington’s wishes, his body was put on ice until it could be moved to the family vault.

That’s where the story gets a little strange. The morning after Washington died, his step-granddaughter Elizabeth Law arrived with a family friend, William Thornton. History best remembers Thornton as the architect who created the original design for the Capitol building, but he was also a trained physician, having studied at the University of Edinburgh. Although he did not practice medicine for much of his life, Thornton always had a keen interest in the workings of the human body, and he suggested a novel method for resurrecting the fallen warrior. Thornton told Washington’s wife Martha that he wanted to thaw Washington’s body by the fire and have it rubbed vigorously with blankets. Then he planned to perform a tracheotomy so he could insert a bellows into Washington’s throat and pump his lungs full of air, and finally to give Washington an infusion of lamb’s blood. Friends and family declined Thornton’s mad scientist offer, not because they thought his solution impossible, but because they felt the nation’s first president should rest in peace.

So what gave Thornton the idea to play Dr. Frankenstein? Susan E. Lederer, author of the book Flesh and Blood: Organ Transplantation and Blood Transfusion in Twentieth-Century America, notes that many physicians in the late 18th Century believed that lamb’s blood had special properties, and believes Thornton meant to give Washington’s circulatory system “a spark of vitality” that might jolt him back to life. But Paul Schmidt, in his article “Forgotten transfusion history: John Leacock of Barbados” published in the British Medical Journal, suggests that the University of Edinburgh may have been on the forefront of transfusion research (unless you count all those transfusion experiments in 17th-Century France). Thornton wasn’t the only Edinburgh alum thinking about blood transfusions during that time period. Philip Syng Physick, an earlier Edinburgh grad (who incidentally practiced in Philadelphia, where Thornton himself briefly practiced medicine), is reported to have performed a human blood transfusion as early as 1795. John Leacock, a later graduate, performed successful transfusion experiments, believing an infusion of blood would “excite” the recipient heart. Leacock’s experiments in turn influenced James Blundell, who is credited with introducing the process to the mainstream medical community. Schmidt wonders if the Edinburgh community took particular interest in those early French transfusion experiments, planting the idea in Thornton’s mind.

Oddly, reanimation wasn’t Thornton’s only thwarted plan for Washington’s body. Thornton secretly included a burial vault in his designs for the Capitol, hoping that it would be Washington’s final resting place. After Washington’s coffin was placed in the family vault, Martha did agree that he could be later removed to the Capitol, on the grounds that her body could join his when she died. Alas, the transfer of burial chambers, like zombie Washington himself, was not meant to be.

Story discovered via Holly Tucker’s book Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution, which details a series of blood transfusion experiments undertaken more than a century before Washington’s death.

Sources:
Lamb, Brian, Who’s Buried in Grant’s Tomb?: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites, PublicAffairs (2010).
Lederer, Susan E., Flesh and Blood: Organ Transplantation and Blood Transfusion in Twentieth-Century America, Oxford University Press, USA (2008).
Schmidt, PJ, “Forgotten transfusion history: John Leacock of Barbados,” BMJ. 2002 December 21; 325(7378): 1485–1487.
Scwarz, Frederic D., “The Death of Washington,” American Heritage, 1999 December; Vol 50(8).
Tucker, Holly, Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution, W. W. Norton Company (2011).

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/C2C-InTheNews/~3/oThDwBNyoMo/

Sandia researchers Red Jones and Brian Kast and their colleagues have invented a dart-like, self-guided bullet for small-caliber, smooth-bore firearms that could hit laser-designated targets at distances of more than a mile (about 2,000 meters).

“We have a very promising technology to guide small projectiles that could be fully developed inexpensively and rapidly,” Jones said.

Sandia is seeking a private company partner to complete testing of the prototype and bring a guided bullet to the marketplace.

Researchers have had initial success testing the design in computer simulations and in field tests of prototypes, built from commercially available parts, Jones said.

While engineering issues remain, “we’re confident in our science base and we’re confident the engineering-technology base is there to solve the problems,” he said.

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

A video showing the prototype’s flight.

Sandia’s design for the four-inch-long bullet includes an optical sensor in the nose to detect a laser beam on a target. The sensor sends information to guidance and control electronics that use an algorithm in an eight-bit central processing unit to command electromagnetic actuators. These actuators steer tiny fins that guide the bullet to the target.

Most bullets shot from rifles, which have grooves, or rifling, that cause them to spin so they fly straight, like a long football pass. To enable a bullet to turn in flight toward a target and to simplify the design, the spin had to go, Jones said.

The bullet flies straight due to its aerodynamically stable design, which consists of a center of gravity that sits forward in the projectile and tiny fins that enable it to fly without spin, just as a dart does, he said.

Computer aerodynamic modeling shows the design would result in dramatic improvements in accuracy, Jones said. Computer simulations showed an unguided bullet under real-world conditions could miss a target more than a half mile away (1,000 meters away) by 9.8 yards (9 meters), but a guided bullet would get within 8 inches (0.2 meters), according to the patent.

Plastic sabots provide a gas seal in the cartridge and protect the delicate fins until they drop off after the bullet emerges from the firearm’s barrel.

The prototype does not require a device found in guided missiles called an inertial measuring unit, which would have added substantially to its cost. Instead, the researchers found that the bullet’s relatively small size when compared to guided missiles “is helping us all around. It’s kind of a fortuitous thing that none of us saw when we started,” Jones said.

Enlarge

The four-inch-long bullet has actuators that steer tiny fins that guide it to its target. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

As the bullet flies through the air, it pitches and yaws at a set rate based on its mass and size. In larger guided missiles, the rate of flight-path corrections is relatively slow, so each correction needs to be very precise because fewer corrections are possible during flight. But “the natural body frequency of this bullet is about 30 hertz, so we can make corrections 30 times per second. That means we can overcorrect, so we don’t have to be as precise each time,” Jones said.

Testing has shown the electromagnetic actuator performs well and the bullet can reach speeds of 2,400 feet per second, or Mach 2.1, using commercially available gunpowder. The researchers are confident it could reach standard military speeds using customized gunpowder.

And a nighttime field test, in which a tiny light-emitting diode, or LED, was attached to the bullet showed the battery and electronics can survive flight, Jones said.

Researchers also filmed high-speed video of the bullet radically pitching as it exited the barrel. The bullet pitches less as it flies down range, a phenomenon known to long-range firearms experts as “going to sleep.” Because the bullet’s motions settle the longer it is in flight, accuracy improves at longer ranges, Jones said.

“Nobody had ever seen that, but we’ve got high-speed video photography that shows that it’s true,” he said.

Potential customers for the bullet include the military, law enforcement and recreational shooters.

In addition to Jones and Kast, Sandia researchers who helped develop the technology are: engineer Brandon R. Rohrer, aerodynamics expert Marc W. Kniskern, mechanical designer Scott E. Rose, firearms expert James W. Woods and Ronald W. Greene, a guidance, control and simulation engineer.

Provided by Sandia National Laboratories (news : web)

<!–
–>

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/C2C-InTheNews/~3/MqCyW5b4l_U/2012-01-self-guided-bullet-prototype-mile.html

Huw Golledge/flickr

Ketamine has been used as an anesthetic for decades. It’s also a widely popular but illegal club drug known as “Special K.” When administered in low doses, patients report a rapid reduction in depression symptoms.

There’s no quick fix for severe depression.

Although antidepressants like Prozac have been around since the 1970s, they usually take weeks to make a difference. And for up to 40 percent of patients, they simply don’t work.

As a result, there are limited options when patients show up in an emergency room with suicidal depression.

The doctors and nurses at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston say they see this problem every day.

You can get a sense of what they’re up against by visiting the cavernous, bustling emergency center at Ben Taub, which is part of the massive Texas Medical Center. More than 100,000 patients a year get emergency care here, and about 5,000 of them need psychiatric evaluation.

The hospital’s 24-hour Psychiatric Emergency Center gets a steady stream of people with suicidal depression, says Charlzetta McMurray-Horton, who is in charge of mental health nursing.

Enlarge Ben Taub General Hospital

Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston sees 100,000 emergency patients a year, 5,000 of whom need psychiatric evaluation.

Ben Taub General Hospital

Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston sees 100,000 emergency patients a year, 5,000 of whom need psychiatric evaluation.

“If the police bring them in, they’re going to come through this door,” McMurray-Horton says, pointing to one entrance. “If the ambulance brings them in, they’re going to come through this door,” she says, pointing to a different entrance.

And one of the challenges in treating these severely depressed patients is that there simply isn’t any drug that provides quick relief, says Anu Matorin, medical director of the Psychiatric Emergency Center.

Matorin talks about one recent patient. The woman had suffered bouts of depression since college, Matorin says. But after she had a baby, it became severe. She stopped eating and sleeping. She began to think about suicide.

Finally, the woman made a desperate call to her mother, Matorin says.

“She was very emotional, very tearful, not making sense,” Matorin says. “She says, ‘I just can’t take it anymore. I don’t know how to feed the child.’ The mother could hear the infant crying in the background.”

The family called 911, and the woman arrived at the hospital with a police escort. Matorin says she evaluated the woman and put her on antidepressants.

Then came the hard part, Matorin says. She knew the drugs might help the woman eventually. But they weren’t going to do anything about her suicidal thoughts during the next few critical days.

So Matorin did the only thing she could for her patient. She admitted her to the hospital’s locked inpatient unit.

I ask to see the facility, so McMurray-Horton takes me there.

‘Keep Them Safe, Keep Them Alive’

The unit can handle 20 patients, and its main room is warmer, softer and more colorful than you might expect. Think Holiday Inn, without any sharp objects or hard edges.

But there’s no avoiding the fact that this is a place where safety is paramount and privacy isn’t, says McMurray-Horton. Shatterproof plastic windows around the nurses’ station provide unobstructed sightlines to pretty much everywhere.

“Patients don’t want to be here,” says McMurray-Horton, explaining that about three-quarters of them are in the unit because they have been deemed a threat to themselves or someone else.

So it’s not surprising that our tour of the unit is interrupted by the loud protests of one enraged patient.

Units like this are necessary in part because drugs for depression don’t work fast enough to help someone in the early days of a crisis, Matorin says.

And McMurray-Horton says staff members here have a simple goal for patients in crisis: “Keep them safe, keep them alive until they’re in a different space.”

Counseling can help, McMurray-Horton says. So can family. And she says most people in crisis just start to feel better after a few days in a place where staff make sure that “they stay in, and the world stays out.”

That was certainly true of the depressed young mother that Matorin admitted. She got better and went home several days later.

But that woman probably could have skipped the hospital stay altogether if the drugs used to treat depression were as quick and effective as, say, painkillers, Matorin says.

If drugs were more effective, “I think it would transform psychiatric care and really eliminate some of the stigma and fear and concern about treatment,” she says.

‘A Completely Different Mechanism’

A growing number of scientists think it won’t be long before psychiatric care is transformed.

How Ketamine Works To Treat Depression

Traditional antidepressants like Prozac work on a group of chemical messengers in the brain called the serotonin system. Researchers once thought that a lack of serotonin was the cause of depression, and that these drugs worked simply by boosting serotonin levels.

Recent research suggests a more complicated explanation. Serotonin drugs work by stimulating the birth of new neurons, which eventually form new connections in the brain. But creating new neurons takes time — a few weeks, at least — which is thought to explain the delay in responding to antidepressant medications.

Ketamine, in contrast, activates a different chemical system in the brain – the glutamate system. Researcher Ron Duman at Yale thinks ketamine rapidly increases the communication among existing neurons by creating new connections. This is a quicker process than waiting for new neurons to form and accomplishes the same goal of enhancing brain circuit activity.

To study how ketamine might work, Duman turned to rats. The first image below shows the neuron of a rat that has received no ketamine treatment. The small bumps and spots on the side of the neuron are budding connections between neurons.

Enlarge Ronald Duman/Yale University

Just hours after giving the rats doses of ketamine, Duman saw a dramatic increase in the number of new connections between brain cells. This increase in neuronal connectivity is thought to relieve depression.

Enlarge Ronald Duman/Yale University

— Andrew Prince

And they are particularly excited about an experimental drug that is being tried in the NeuroPsychiatric Center next to Ben Taub hospital.

It’s here that drug researchers are studying a drug that’s unlike anything now used to treat depression. And they’re giving it to patients who haven’t done well on existing drugs.

One of these patients is Heather Merrill, who speaks to me in a small conference room that is part of the large and very busy outpatient clinic.

Merill is 41, with three kids and a nice house in the suburbs.

“I’ve suffered from depression for most of my adult life,” she says. “It got to the point where I kind of felt like there wasn’t going to be anything that was going to be able to help me.”

At times her depression gets so bad that she can’t take care of her family or even herself, she says. And that’s how she was feeling the day before, she says, when doctors placed an IV in her arm and began to administer a drug.

Because it was part of an experiment, there were two possibilities. The drug could have been just a sedative. Or it might have been something called ketamine.

Ketamine has been used for decades as an anesthetic. It also has become a wildly popular but illegal club drug known as “Special K.”

Mental health researchers got interested in ketamine because of reports that it could make depression vanish almost instantly.

In contrast, drugs like Prozac take weeks or even months. And the frustrating thing is that depression medications really haven’t changed much since Prozac arrived in the 1970s, says Sanjay Mathew from Baylor College of Medicine, who is in charge of the ketamine study at Ben Taub.

“Everything since then has been essentially incremental,” he says. “There have been tweaks of existing molecules.”

But ketamine represents much more than a tweak, Mathews says.

“It’s a completely different mechanism,” he says. “And the focus is on really rapidly helping someone get out of a depressive episode.”

‘No More Fogginess. No More Heaviness.’

Heather Merrill says she’s pretty sure it was ketamine that flowed into her veins 24 hours earlier.

“It was almost immediate, the sense of calmness and relaxation,” she says.

Some of the doctors think she might be right.

“Her demeanor has changed tremendously,” says Dr. Asim Shah, who directs the mood disorder program at Ben Taub. “She looks like a happy person who is genuinely happy, whereas before the study, she looked very down, very withdrawn, sort of almost tearful.”

But of course, nobody knows whether Merrill actually got ketamine. That information will be kept secret until the study is done, months from now.

So I decide to see how Merrill’s experience compares with the experiences of people who definitely took ketamine for depression.

I talk to Carlos Zarate, who does ketamine research at the NIH and has never met Merrill. Zarate says patients typically say, ” ‘I feel that something’s lifted or feel that I’ve never been depressed in my life. I feel I can work. I feel I can contribute to society.’ And it was a different experience from feeling high. This was feeling that something has been removed.”

I compare this to what Merrill said about her experience: “No more fogginess. No more heaviness. I feel like I’m a clean slate right now. I want to go home and see friends or, you know, go to the grocery store and cook the family dinner.”

The similarities are hard to ignore.

And researchers say the consistent patient reactions have actually made it more difficult to do good studies of ketamine. The drug’s effects are so powerful and distinctive, they say, it’s hard to prevent doctors and patients in an experiment from figuring out who got the drug and who didn’t.

Jon Hamilton’s follow-up report looks at research that seeks to unravel how ketamine acts on depression symptoms in an effort to development faster-acting drugs.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/C2C-InTheNews/~3/zQ740f2Fzt8/could-a-club-drug-offer-almost-immediate-relief-from-depression

A old wanted poster for Osama bin Laden. His death in 2011 has been the subject of contradictory conspiracy theories.

Did Princess Diana fake her own death to escape the public eye? Or was she killed by a rogue element of the British secret service?

If you agree with one of these theories, there’s a good chance you’ll subscribe to both even though one suggests Princess Diana is alive, the other dead, a new study indicates.

It’s known that people who believe one conspiracy theory are inclined to endorse others as well. But new research shows that conspiracy theorists aren’t put off by contradictory theories and offers a reason why.

“They’re explained by the overarching theory that there is some kind of cover-up, that authorities are withholding information from us,” said Karen Douglas, a study researcher and reader in the school of psychology sciences at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom. “It’s not that people are gullible or silly by having those beliefs. … It all fits into the same picture.”  [Is This Article Part of a Conspiracy?]

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/C2C-InTheNews/~3/bpVDqrl6WpI/18171-contradicting-conspiracy-theories-mistrust.html

Source Article from http://getreadyportland.com/2012/01/31/illinois-nuclear-plant-shut-down-after-steam-containing-low-levels-of-tritium-is-released-from-site-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=illinois-nuclear-plant-shut-down-after-steam-containing-low-levels-of-tritium-is-released-from-site-3

While the second amendment protects our right to bear arms, some anti-gun advocates think they may have found a loophole. This afternoon the New Jersey Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee is set to consider two bills (Assembly Bill 588 and Assembly Bill 1013) that would essentially ban all handgun ammunition in the state, as well as some (or potentially all) rifle ammunition.

Sponsored by Assemblyman L. Grace Spencer (D-29), A588 is cleverly disguised as police safety legislation aimed at armor piercing ammunition (which is already prohibited under federal and state law).  The measure actually opens the door to a sweeping ammunition ban by an unelected public official by executive fiat. Common hunting, target, and self-defense ammunition would be subject to ban, along with BB’s, airgun pellets, and non-metallic ammunition like plastic airsoft pellets, if the Attorney General decides that they pose a threat to the safety and well being of law enforcement.

Although the bill only mentions handgun ammunition, it is in fact not limited to handgun ammunition, and would apply to all rifle ammunition for which a handgun is ever made. As an increasing number of gun manufacturers make handgun models that shoot rifle caliber ammunition, the line between “handgun” vs. “rifle” ammunition has become blurred, and the New Jersey State Police have already begun treating rifle ammunition in this category as if it were handgun ammunition for regulatory purposes. As long as a handgun exists that shoots a particular caliber of rifle ammunition, New Jersey treats that ammunition as if it were handgun ammunition.

Source: NRA Institute For Legislative Action

As Aaron Dykes of Infowars points out, the bills themselves would not outlaw the ammunition, but they “would enable the state’s Attorney General to instate a de facto restriction of the Second Amendment via executive fiat.”

In essence, if the Attorney General determines that a particular type of ammunition poses a threat to the police or government officials, that ammunition could be completely banned under this new legislation.

The goal, of course, is to render the Second Amendment impotent – the ultimate endgame of those who would brink the darkness of tyranny over our great nation.

By all accounts, as SGT Report highlights in their latest micro-documentary (available below), the government has rebelled against the people, and they are working feverishly to eliminate, one by one, each of the Constitutional protections that have ensured the peoples’ right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for over two centuries.

I want to make the case that there has been a rebellion.

This government has rebelled against the Constitution and against the citizens of the United States. The invasion of the public safety has been made by the representatives of the people.

the public safety could not be more at risk now, that the NDAA containing S1867, is law. The signing of NDAA was the crossing of the Rubicon. The government has now pushed farther than could have been imagined even 12 or 18 short months ago.

…

I have long believed that the final straw will come when this government attempts to ban guns or ammunition, or declare a confiscation of precious metals.

They will keep pushing, as all tyrants do, until the people push back. This latest transgression of our freedoms may be limited to a single state, but if approved, would open the door to similar bans across the entire country.

As Alex Jones warns in a recent  update, those who would make us slaves and strip us of our natural rights are doing so at an accelerated rate.

It’s really simple. We’re getting down to the wire here. Tyranny is out in the open. The destruction of our basic liberties, the overthrow of our republic and basic protections, and basic checks and balances, is in overdrive right now.

Four years ago, had someone told you that the government would take over major financial institutions, manufacturers, and insurance companies, or that they would legislate universal health mandates or indefinite detention of American citizens without trial, or that they would grope your children at public venues and transportation hubs, would you have believed them?

Most Americans would have balked at the very thought of such things.

Yet here we are. And the scary thing? They’re not finished yet. They won’t be; not until the Constitution of the United States is relegated to nothing more than a historical text in some museum rather than what it was meant to be – the fundamental law of the land.

Video: First NDAA “Indefinite Detention”, Now Our Right to Bear Arms (Via SGT Report)

Hat tip SGT Report, NRA-ILA, Infowars, Ammoland

Author:
Mac Slavo
Date: January 30th, 2012
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

Copyright Information: Copyright SHTFplan and Mac Slavo. This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.shtfplan.com. Please contact us for permission to reproduce this content in other media formats.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SHTFplan/~3/anwMy2uPnXg/constitutional-work-around-new-jersey-set-to-consider-ban-on-ammunition_01302012