WHY UTAH MATTERS

I want to the thank Judge Robert James Shelby for his decision to set aside the rule of law in favor of the legal standard of "feelings". By doing so, he has crystallized in my mind the importance of teaching and incorporating the Word of the Lord in your home, so that your family can differentiate between Good and Evil. 

I commit to so do, beginning today, the first day of 2014.

For those of you who don't know, Judge Robert Shelby set aside the rule of law in Utah that marriage is between one man and one woman in favor of (and I quote) "the standard that people who love each other should free to marry." Of course, he wrote that this only applies to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. To which I tweeted, "What a Bigot! How about the 35,000 polygamists living in Utah? Don't they deserve to legally marry the one THEY love?" I hope the polygamists march en masse to Mayor Ralph Becker's office. He was SO EXCITED to be the first to officiate at a SSM, he can be the first for a polygamist marriage too.

You may recall from my post on June 29th "Dancing on Law's Gravestone", my lament that we witnessed the death of the rule of law with the SCOTUS decisions. We are truly living the age of the Judges "...Where every man did right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25)

Where does that standard stop? Why does it apply to SSM, but not to the judge in Montana who validated the conviction of a man found guilty of raping a 14yo. She killed herself, and the judge set aside his penalty of 10+ years to time served plus 30 days because he could. People are screaming loud about him setting aside the rule of law "because he can."

But I digress. I'm going to come out of the closet. Whether you believe it or not, or agree with me or not, I know that this life is not all there is. I know that we live after we die, I know that there is a purpose to this life, that there is a purpose to the life we live after we die, and that we lived before we were born on this earth with God. I know that the main reason we live on this earth is to prepare ourselves to return to God and live in His presence forever.

I believe that there are things we must do in order to qualify to live in His presence, starting with accepting Him and His Word. To that end: I'm going to strive to do only those things which will aid me and mine, and you and yours to return back to the presence of the Father.

For example:

--Making sure you have an opportunity to hear the Word of the Lord and accept His gospel so that yours and mine can make a decision to accept or reject him.

--Creating an environment where you have the opportunity to exercise your agency to accept or reject.

To that end, unlike many who promote "if it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my back it is of no importance to me (Glenn Beck)" I believe I have a duty not to destroy your agency by my actions or the actions of others. Agency is destroyed by believing the lie that "you should do your own thing baby" or "let others do their own thing because it doesn't impact me." Examples are:

--Being high 90% of the time destroys your cognitive agency, therefore I will not vote to legalize marijuana or other drugs

--Having sex with young children destroys their agency, therefore I will not vote to legalize sex with children

--Normalizing evil destroys agency because it sets evil, rather than good, as the standard and destroys hope, therefore I will not vote to legalize evil

--SSM destroys agency because it teaches the lie that you do not have to be obedient to the laws of baptism or celestial marriage in order to return to the presence of the Father.

Therefore, I will not vote to legalize, or condone by my action/inaction, SSM. If I really care about you, why would I help you do something which will virtually guarantee you are kept from the Father's presence?

By condoning, I mean taking the position that because it doesn't impact me personally it's ok. Some among us, including me, have voluntarily entered in to a covenant to establish the Word of the Lord not just for ourselves, but for our neighbors and our posterity. For me, that's not in the abstract. 

Like the starfish story, I may not be successful fighting against the tide of the 99 other evils, but I can make a difference against One.

Wishing you a closer relationship with God in 2014, that you may find the true Peace you are seeking by following the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

PREPPER TEN ESSENTIALS, Part 3 continued

It was 6 years ago that my now Eagle & aged out son left his scouting-in-name-only troop and joined a hard core, scouting-means-skills oriented one. I just love that troop. His first major campout with them was a 10 day scout camp about 8 hours away. Fortunately I am a registered, BSA trained adult, and even better was the fact that all such parents could attend (my son has health issues and at the time, they were in full bloom.)

So I went too.

You may be wondering what this has to do with ITEM 6: LIGHTING. 

Never having been a fan of battery powered flashlights, and only slightly more a fan of "crank up" lighting, I decided to experiment with solar lighting. I took with us a bunch of solar powered lighting like this solar powered motion sensor one by Sunforce.

The scoutmaster-in-charge was ex-Army. Yeah, he (nicely) mocked me about bringing them. I hung one at the entrance to the camp, and one outside my tent. Every day (we were in the mountains) I would find a sunny spot and take the panels to recharge, then collect them at dinner time and reinstall them.

By the end of Day 3, the SIC was making comments like, "it sure is nice having those light up when we come in and out of camp." By day 7, he wanted to know where I had bought them.

It worked so well that it got me thinking. What if I used the same type of lighting inside my house? I went looking for something non-sensor motion, portable, independently powered (i.e., did not require huge solar panels to run), and no cables to mess with no matter how small. BTW: indoors, sensor motion gets old really fast.

Unless you've lived without it (we have, for 4 nights, days too if you count no light in bathrooms), you don't realize the emotional impact a lack of light is. I have a theory that it is hardwired into our DNA--we intuitively recognize we need the Light of and in the World (John 8:12.) My theory is when we don't have light, our DNA just goes a tiny bit crazy reminding us that we stand in jeopardy of eternal darkness without Christ. 

But I digress. Back to steel and plastic lighting.

Forget those little 1 LED lights, period. You want a minimum of 8 LEDs and 10+ is better. 10 LEDs in a single "lamp" similar to this 10 LED Premium by Moonray, will light up an entire room, well enough to read in, particularly if you bounce it up like a standard up-light. I have these or a brand very similar. I don't bother attaching the stakes: they're unnecessary. The solar panel attached to the lamp swivels and it's easy to lay them on the ground with the panel catching the sun. At night, I place them panel side down with the lamp up, so the light bounces up and reflects off the ceilings. They really do last 7 hours. Mine have a switch to turn them on/off.

Going this route means I can put portable light in X bedrooms, for not much money. When we travel, I tie them solar panel side up, to my roof rack. They charge all day, and we have light at night (I know most of you have never thought of that! Pretty clever don't you think? Wait till I expand to a large panel !!)

Plus I can tie one (1) to each of our backpacks....if I literally tie it to a backpack, it charges during the day, lights at night.

We also have the Goal Zero Nomad 7 Guide 10 set up. Ours came with everything you see pictured: the Nomad 7 (which is the panels), the Guide 10 plus (which is the AA battery charger), the insert to charge- plus- AAA batteries, the 10 LED strip light (I think I blogged pictures of it once), plus an assortment of cable attachments (i.e., USB, phone, cigarette lighter.) 

I have run my Dell Streak tablet off it to score baseball games (iScore, not a power easy program), my kids are constantly stealing the batteries out of it to run their Wii and Xbox controllers (at peril of their LIVES!!) In case you are wondering, batteries will go from dead to functioning in about 2-3 hours of sunlight using the Nomad 7. So if you're going to go the battery only route, strongly consider getting one of those. Again, portable. Strap it hanging down unfolded, panels out facing the sun as you are backpacking, charging the batteries (or whatever) at the same time. Then at night, you have light.

Can you achieve the same type of thing if you're running a large solar panel, inverter, charge controller and 12V battery to run conventional lighting? Sure. But for many of us, that's a big leap into technology which is hard to understand. And it's not overly portable. And my 6 year old (back when I had one) can't work with it. Using 10+LED garden lights as indoor emergency lighting (or to lessen your electric bill now), taking them out in the morning, bringing them in at night, is something even a child or the mobility-challenged can do. Plus all the solar/hand crank options out there, which are too many to discuss cogently.

Does all this mean you shouldn't have candles, oil lamps (I prefer vegetable oil lamps, at least the oil you store is used for cooking, lamps are an added bonus), or battery powered lighting? Of course not. But candles and lamps mean you have to store wicks and matches. Battery powered means you have to store batteries, although if you store rechargeable batteries and can recharge them via a solar charger etc. it becomes less of an issue. But oil lamps, candles, excessive batteries--that all presumes you are sheltering in place. If you are bugging out, you want to think long term, easily carried, durable, and lightweight.

Told you lighting needed to be its own post!

OBAMACARE and YOU

My fundamental issue with honesty is simple: a man's word is his bond (women too.)

In our house, if you say you're going to do something-you do it. If you say you're going to be somewhere- you be there, when you're going to be there. In practice, it has set my kids markedly apart from their peers to the extent that people comment about them on it (not saying yours aren't of similar integrity.)

So when the Commander-in-Chief says in June 2009 in front of the American Medical Association (emphatically, with hands waving and pointing): "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away." And from inside the White House, in a prepared speech (I forget what those organized events are called), in June 2012 as he was running for re-election: "If you're one of the more than 250 million Americans who already have insurance, you will keep your health insurance. This law will only make it more secure and more affordable," those were lies. Proof follows.

I admit I didn't know at the time what the heck an individual mandate is, or an employer mandate is. I do now. And millions of Americans do too. Individual means you buy your insurance without employer assistance. Employer mandate means you get your insurance through your employer, which is the vast majority of Americans.

The Obama administration likes to insist that it was not lying when it said "you can keep your insurance" because "what they meant was, you keep it if there were no changes to your plan." Uneducated Americans think this means something like, cancer treatment was covered before and then it got dropped or something large like that.

No. In truth, what it means is if any of the following change, in any way, your plan is no longer eligible for "grandfathering" under Obamacare:

1. Eliminate or reduce benefits 
2. Raise a co-pay
3. Raise a deductible
4. Raise employee contribution 
5. Add/increase annual limits
(source: National Review.)

If any one of the above occur, your plan is no longer allowed under Obamacare. This is why millions are losing their insurance right now.

Too many of us are not our brother's keeper. We think we will not be impacted because we sit safely in employer-directed health insurance. NO PEOPLE, YOUR TURN COMES in 2014/2015.

Every year company sponsored health care changes. Your co-pays for doctors or medications go up or down by a few dollars. THAT'S A CHANGE. Your deductibles go up or down a few hundred dollars. THAT'S A CHANGE. Your share of premium costs go up or down $40 or so. THAT'S A CHANGE. 

All those normal, understandable changes void your plan under Obamacare. That's why people are getting dropped left and right. It's not because their plans are "substandard," that's another lie. It's because the plan changed in a small way, and they are now void under Obamacare.

Our family is already seeing it as DH interviews for work. Smaller to medium sized business "have to" cover him on insurance. They do not have to cover spouses and children. And many are not. 

So what can you do? Ultimately, the power is truly in the hands of the people. Obamacare was a partisan bill. In my opinion, you need to do your homework the next election, and vote into office people who reflect the values of self-sufficiency (meaning- you don't expect someone else is going to cover your freight), integrity, independent thought vs a party line. Someone who follows the Constitution at least to the extent that they understand the big big line that is supposed to exist between the States and the (dare I say illegal) overreach of the federal government in all aspects of our lives. Examine their voting records (John McCain), their stated positions. Every once in a while does a person living a double standard sneak in? Sure (Harry Reid!) But by and large, people are creatures of habit. They generally produce a big bread crumb trail leading to who they really are.

Hillary was right. It does take a village. But we are the ones who determine what kind of village.

FOX NEWS vs. MY AGENDA 21 TOWN

UPDATE: Not normally a fan of change.org, but they are circulating a petition on this issue. You may want to sign as well as email HBCC. Be aware: you may get a whiny letter back from Connie Boardman saying "it's not about the vets, it's about public safety." Like ****.
http://www.change.org/petitions/huntington-beach-support-johnny-s-saloon-in-their-support-for-veterans?share_id=HbyNhemNiO&utm_campaign=share_button_mobile&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition


I clicked on a random link about "a California town bar fighting City Hall over a sign supporting veterans." Just random.

WHY WAS I NOT SURPRISED TO SEE IT CONCERNED MY AGENDA 21 TOWN: HUNTINGTON BEACH CALIFORNIA???

You can read the article here: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/26/california-dive-bar-fighting-city-hall-over-veteran-sign/

I'm with the Johnny's on this one: the letter threatening "you're in violation, remove it OR ELSE" is absolutely on purpose, there is no "misunderstanding." Huntington Beach and its current Agenda 21 quadrumvirate (Boardman, Shaw, Katapodis, Hardy) are absolutely intent on shoving their vision of government controlled, government regulated land use policy violating YOUR property rights come hell or high water. Unless the bright light of liberty (in this case, Fox News) shines on their actions.

They can get away with it because they believe:

1. They know better (it's paternalism at its best and fascism at its worst.)

2. They believe you don't care.

They are correct to the degree that most HB citizens are benignly apathetic. It's not that we don't care, it's that we don't pay attention. Boardman, Shaw, Katapodis and Hardy are not just four individuals who happen to be on the City Council. They are ALL part of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust (most if not all, are on the BCLT's Board of Directors.) They ran as a voting bloc (remember the signs?) 

Wake up. These four have a specific Agenda, and it is not in your best interest. Connie Boardman has directly stated that she hopes "her vision spreads throughout the State, and she has a strong interest in land use issues, water quality, and hopes to continue the move of Huntington Beach toward a greener and more SUSTAINABLE" (remember that word) "city."

I know a lot of you either don't know what Agenda 21 is (soundbite title from a U.N. Treaty the USA signed on to under George H.W. Bush) which calls for the "Integration of environment and development concerns" under U.N. control and sanctions. "Greater attention to them will lead to the fulfillment of basic needs, improved living standards for all, better protected and managed ecosystems and a safer, more prosperous future. No nation can achieve this on its own, but together we can in a global partnership for sustainable development;" all under U.N. control.

You and I used to have a different definition of the word "sustainable." It's been co-opted by the Agenda 21 zealots. Now it is codespeak for A21 government control over all aspects of your life, because "who wouldn't want to be concerned and want to restrict our behavior in order to benefit future generations?"

I know. You think it's a conspiracy theory. Except California adopted Agenda 21 into law as SB375 known as the "Smart Growth Program." Bet you didn't know that, did you? Bet you didn't know the goals of this program are:

Sustainable transportation

Sustainable development

Affordable housing

Centralized plan

Protect the Environment

Those are California's state goals under SB375. You know what? They are exactly Huntington Beach's stated goals (think Bella Terra). They are also the stated goals of Agenda 21.

HBCC (i.e., the quadrumvirate) is trying to make it sound like Johnny's is just crazy, and they completely misunderstood the zoning letter. NO, IT'S PRETTY HARD TO MISUNDERSTAND "you are violating OUR land use policy, take it down in two days OR ELSE."

You need to get involved. You need to email the entire City Council in support of Johnny's on principle. You need to put the quadrumvirate on notice that you are on to their attempts to force their personal agenda on to the populace, at the expense of your individual freedom and liberty. 

Their emails are:

Boardman= Connie.Boardman@surfcity-hb.org

Shaw= Joe.Shaw@surfcity-hb.org

Katapodis= Jim.Katapodis@surfcity-hb.org

Hardy= JHardy@surfcity-hb.org

and the three who still possess independent thought processes:

Carchio: JCarchio@surfcity-hb.org

Harper: Matthew.Harper@surfcity-hb.org

Sullivan: Dave.Sullivan@surfcity-hb.org

Boardman and Shaw come up for re-election in 2014. Remember their names and vote them OUT and restore some sanity to the City Council.

The quadrumvirate is backpedaling thanks to Fox News. Keep the momentum going.

PREPPER TEN ESSENTIALS, Part 3

This post perhaps more than any other prepping post, has some emotion attached to it. I'll try to be coherent and not too long. No promises.

We live in southern California. For the bulk of the time DH & I have been married, we have lived in privately owned homes/condos (versus commercial apartments.) Privately owned meant we were unfortunate to feel the effects of the "real estate boom" here in SoCal, and if the owners felt they could make a quick profit, they had no problem breaking our lease. This problem became so prevalent, that the State of California enacted a regulation stating that if you sold a house/condo in California and had rental tenants, you had to give them 60 days notice at least (or longer if your lease stated longer), regardless of what type of lease you had (i.e., a month to month) or how quick your escrow was.

It got so bad for us personally (before the new law), that during one period we moved four times in two years, averaging once every 6 months (once we moved twice in 8 weeks, don't get me started.) My youngest made two observations which haunt me to this day. His first (when he was 6 years old) was that he wanted us to buy an RV. I asked him why. He said, "so we will never be homeless." That spoke volumes.

The second was the first summer we lived where we are now. It was the middle of June. My son asked, "so where are we moving to?" I told him we're not moving. He insisted, "yes we are. School's out. We always have to move when school's out." And he was right, we had always moved right after school got out, his whole life. 

So ITEM 5: SHELTER is a big one for our family.

I still lean toward an RV, or at least a pull along tent trailer. I think I have the plans for a tear drop trailer somewhere (yes, I am old enough to actually have seen them in the original, back in the day), like these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUe-TYCjZz0. I lean that way because I sit here in my poorly insulated, all original glass single pane window, no weather proofing rental house, where the wind-comes-whipping-down-the-plains and am COLD. So I think, an RV won't be much worse, and would probably be better than a tent.

Sigh. But that's so far away from my current budget/lifestyle that I know I am in the majority when I talk about reality: tents. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tent#Older_tent_styles)

I do a lot of not-quite-primitive style camping with my kids. I ditched the wall and pole style tents, in favor of 1 person can erect them dome tents, a long, long time ago. One year my kids and I traveled to Washington state to visit family. We KOA tent camped it all the way up and back. My oldest DD who was about 13 at the time, became exceptionally proficient at pitching a dome style collapsible pole tent in the dark in under 5 minutes. We had also packed survival camping paraphernalia, i.e., skillets which could be used open flame or camp stove, water purification, a week's worth food rations etc. This proved prescient, as our vehicle broke down on the California/Oregon border and we were stranded for a week while the part to my car was obtained (thank you Mom for the lessons of packing/traveling 'in case of break down', and thank you Bro for the car repair.)

At that time we had two dome tents. Still do. I have to tell you though, I hadn't thought it through; traveling with 3 small kids and 1 teen-ish-ager meant I couldn't put all of us in 1 tent, which made me uneasy for security reasons. I think I ended up putting the 3 older kids in 1 and the toddler, gear and I in the other, and faced the tents toward each other with maybe about a foot of space between them.

Subsequently, I ended up buying a 3 room dome tent similar to the Lightspeed Ample 6. Mine came in its own carrying case on wheels, along with 2 chairs (long since lost). Sure, it's heavy. Yep, it's not getting thrown on a back pack, but at least all of us and our gear will be located in the same place. If I was living post-hurricane/tornado/evacuation setting, being all together would mean a lot.

There are way too many 1 or 2 man tents for me to talk about. These are the kind you would want to get if you are throwing into a back pack. "Normal colors" or camouflage? Formal tent or bivy sack? The choices are endless, and I don't want to go too far afield. 

Regardless of style or type, try to get the lightest weight and smallest-sized one for your style you can find. 8 pounds might not feel like a lot now, but it will if you're hoofing it. My "all in one" takes up 8 square feet of cargo space. In an exodus, space will be at a premium.

By the way, you may not realize it, but tent fabric atrophies and dies. Found that out the hard way when I went camping with the scouts and it rained. Straight through the tent. So that tent you bought 10+ years ago might not be as sound as you remember.

Before you worry too much about tents however, I am going to strongly suggest that you invest the money in HIGH QUALITY, zero or sub-zero rated sleeping bags like the Magellan Cold Weather 0 rated Mummy sleeping bag. Sub-zero will run you some huge dollars, but zero rated will only cost around $70-$110. No tent in the world will protect you against freezing temperatures; but a high quality zero or sub-zero sleeping bag will. Trust me. Been there, frozen it. Better to have a cheap-er tent and high quality zero-rated sleeping bags, than a high quality, expensive tent and cheap-ee bags which are only good for sleepovers in someone's house (that would be anything rated 45 degrees or higher BTW.)

ITEM 6: LIGHTING

Actually, I've decided lighting needs to be its own post. So check back later for PTE, Part 3 continued. But be thinking solar, and I'm not talking panels <grin.>

PREPPER TEN ESSENTIALS, Part 2 continued...

I neglected to include solar ovens, parabolic cooking/heating and fresnel lens cooking/heating in PTE part 2. They're almost a separate category anyway.

Some of the best YouTube channels I have found using parabolic and fresnel lens generated energy is Dan and Denise Rojas' GreenPower Science. The channel itself is located at http://www.youtube.com/user/GREENPOWERSCIENCE. They tend to do more with fresnel lens than parabolic, but they really know their stuff, and a simple YT search on parabolic cooking including DIY builds will round out any gaps.

Solar oven cooking or its companion solar oven bag cooking is something you should have in your arsenal. Solar cookers constructed of car windowshades and Reynolds' turkey or oven bags like these http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Windshield_Shade_Solar_Cooker  are lightweight, portable and cheap, in other words, perfect for a bug out bag.

Solar ovens like the Global Sun Oven by Sun Ovens International, won't fit in a bag pack per se, lol, but they are lightweight, easily movable, built for durability and reach temperatures similar to a regular oven, so a lot of the uneasiness or guesswork is removed.

Traditional sun ovens allow you to do more than just cook. It is easy to boil water in them, melt and clean beeswax, dehydrate...so a solar oven is a pretty versatile tool.

Why Satan tries SO HARD to wipe Israel off the map

I am not a scripture scholar. I do not know a lot of things, and I may not be able to prove to your satisfaction, the things I know to be true. But this is the one thing I know, for sure, beyond all doubt:

The Word of the Lord is Sure

Barack Obama and his minions, have made clear their intention to support wiping Israel, as a country and as a covenant people, from the earth. Barry can hide it behind "progress" or behind "settlement" talks, or anything else he wants, but make no mistake: he is an enemy to Israel. This was made clear during the presidential debates at the famous "Netanyahu 3am" call question. If you wanted a steadfast friend for Israel, you should have voted for the other guy. And as Ben Shapiro tweeted recently: if you are an American Jew and voted Obama in 2012, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Here's what I know: God made a covenant with Abraham, renewed it with Isaac and Jacob (who was renamed Israel) the following:

"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee...and I will establish my covenant with him (Isaac) for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." (Gen. 17:7,19)

Among other great and glorious things, the Lord covenanted with Abraham that He would remember and protect His people for ever, that His people would always be found on the earth.

IMO, this is why Satan tries so hard to wipe out Israel. He erroneously believes (and teaches) that if he can but wipe out Israel, the word of the Lord will be naught, and God will then cease to be God. 

Foolish child. The Word of the Lord is Sure. Things may get tough for Israel; God does not promise a conflict free life, particularly if we are waxing in iniquity, but He has given His word and extended His covenant: He will protect and save Israel.

Ironically, He has made no such covenant to the descendants of Ishmael, the forefather of the Arab nation: 

"Abraham said unto God: O that Ishmael might live before thee!" (God replied...) "And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee. Behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. Twelve princes shall he beget and I will make him a great nation." (Gen. 17:18.20)

"BUT MY COVENANT WILL I ESTABLISH WITH ISAAC.."

(Gen. 17:21)

Barry believes he is greater than God because he believes there is no God. He is wrong, and he will be proven wrong, because the God of Israel has spoken it. 

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matt. 24:35)

Period., Barry.