Preparedness Investment

Can't afford gold or silver to hedge against possible hyper-inflation? Think about Nickels (NOT nickles!).

The value of the metals (25% copper, 75% nickel) in a U.S. Nickel is now just a shade over seven cents. That's a margin of 40%. (Check it out here.)

Where else can you get an immediate 40% on an investment? If you're thinking of it, you'd better snap some up before they start disappearing from circulation (Gresham's Law).

And All I Know How to Do . . .

My barber sent me the video link below. Someone has commented that this is Riverdance with boots and rifles.



Warriors have always turned their craft into an art form, and this fine example comes from the Norwegian Royal Guard. They carry M1 Garand rifles (9 lbs.) with bayonets fixed. Do not try this at home, as it's all good fun until someone loses an eye.

And to think . . . all I know how to do with one of those things is shoot it.

January 22, 2011

First, I turned a styrofoam cup inside out without a single crack, then I walked the bride down the aisle with kukri under my suitcoat, toasted the newly married couple with champagne, danced (English country dancing style) with the bride, and talked to some regular readers of WARSKYL. It was a pretty good day.

Beautiful!

(Got home from Illinois yesterday afternoon. Wedding of daughter #3 was Saturday. Thanks to our gracious God for preserving us through blizzard & from foolish drivers on the trip home.)

I suppose every man thinks his own wife and daughters are beautiful. Maybe they don't, and I'm just making a generalization based on my own mindset.

Over the last weekend, though, I found myself impressed by the beauty of the girls and women of all ages at the wedding and then at worship the next morning. From preschool to elderly, I saw an attractiveness that really struck me.

I am going to go out on a limb, here and say that the grace of Christ in the heart can be seen in the countenance. I saw (and still see) it in the woman I chose to love for a lifetime, and I know my sons-in-law have seen it in countenances of my daughters, as well.

For some reason, though, it really impressed me over the weekend that Christian ladies have it all over the world in the beauty department. To keep this post true to the purpose of WARSKYL, I guess I should analogize an application for Christian Martialism, here.

As a woman's beauty begins within, so does a warrior's strength. Strength of character translates into strength for the battle.

I've written about this  before in a post about Sir Galahad. In the words of Tennyson's Galahad,

My strength is as the strength of ten
Because my heart is pure.

Christian Martialist, may your righteous strength complement the gracious beauty of the Christian women in your life.

Best of Both Worlds?

Aimed fire or full auto? Here's one solution.

;-)

Thanks to deolexrex for posting this pic on his Facebook page.

Leadership and Localism

Some readers may remember a post I wrote a while ago called "Christian Vigilance for the 21st Century." In it, I  indulged in spinning some daydreams about a modern order or knights who serve their local communities in a number of ways.

As far as I know, no one has yet tried to implement any of the ideas I set down in that blog post. If you have done so, I hope you will share your efforts in the comments section.

I also want to share an idea that I've recently started to work on in my own locale -- Possum Kingdom, South Carolina. It includes starting a new blog: Possum Kingdom Prayer Page.

If you check out the tabs on that page and compare to the "Christian Vigilance for the 21st Century" article, you'll see how this kind of personal ministry may help to bring neighbors together to fulfill some of the functions I listed there.

Would any other Christian Martialists like to undertake a similar responsibility for their own neighborhoods? If so, please send me a link to your neighborhood prayer blog page. You are free to use any ideas you find on my page, and/or let your own sanctified creativity prevail.

Big Brother Starves the Homeless

When two reps from a charitable organization approached Ebenezer Scrooge, they thought they'd touch his heart with the plea that without aid, many of the poor would die. Scrooge replied that, if they were going to die, they should get on with it, and thus reduce the surplus population.

In the old Soviet Union, private charity was illegal. All social welfare either came from the state, or -- as was more often the case -- not at all. Better people should die than that a private individual take over the prerogatives of the deified state.

The city of Houston (TX) provides us with a peek into the heartlessness of Scrooge-ist statism, American style. It seems that the city has shut down the efforts of a Christian couple who have fed over a hundred homeless for a year. According to news reports, the city will not allow them to continue without a permit, and city ordinances preclude their getting one.

Many cities consider the presence of the homeless an embarrassing nuisance. Perhaps Houston officials want them to get on with their dying in order to reduce the surplus population.

You can read the story here:
City Puts a Stop to Homeless Outreach

Some people think that because Texas is a "red state" that it is somehow less statist than other places in the union. In reality, its child welfare agency boasts one of the most intrusive and aggressively anti-Christian records in the 50 states. (See here. You may have to create a free account to read this article, but it's well worth it.)

In addition, Texas has led the charge in the movement to force psychotropic drugs on public school children. See here.

Loughner Shooting, Bottom Line

A quote from Dr. Gary North:

Living at risk of violent nut jobs is the price of not living in a police state. In any case, nut jobs operate in police states, too. Stalin was one. Hitler was another. Mao was right up there.

I prefer lone nut jobs.

It Was Foot Powder, Not Anthrax

Some Principles from Tim Larkin

I found some useful information on this video by Tim Larkin of Target Focus Training.

Note his emphasis on safe methods with a training partner. I also liked the instruction on displacing your partner.

Protecting Children from Drug Dealers

They are out there, and if they can't hook you, they want to target your children and grandchildren as potential users. I call them drug dealers and pushers; you may know them as pharmaceutical companies, doctors, schools and civil authorities.

Under the present state of affairs, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) operates -- under Republican and Democratic administrations -- in full cooperation with drug companies to get their wares to market. Then drug company sales reps filter the information that gets through to physicians about the drugs they are urged to prescribe.

Counterpunch has done a public service by publishing Martha Rosenberg's article "The Year in Pills." The article lists over 35 very common drugs and some attendant dangers.

For example, do you have a teen with serious acne problems? The following excerpt from the article should make you want to check out whatever your doctor prescribes:

Humira, Prolia and TNF Blockers

The drug industry's highly promoted biologic drugs are made from genetically engineered hamster cells and suppress the immune system, inviting tuberculosis and several cancers. Yet Humira is advertised to healthy people for "clearer skin" and Prolia is advertised to prevent osteoporosis in healthy women.

Then there are the plethora of mood-altering drugs:

Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, SSRIs

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and Lexapro probably did more to inflate drug industry profits than Viagra. But many say the drugs have also inflated police blotters. In addition to 4,200 published reports of SSRI-related violence, including the Columbine, Red Lake and NIU shootings, SSRIs can cause serotonin syndrome and gastrointestinal bleeding when taken with certain drugs. Paxil is linked to birth defects.

Effexor, Cymbalta, Pristiq, SNRIs

Selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are like their SSRIs chemical cousins except their norepinephrine effects can modulate pain, which has ushered in your-depression-is-really-pain, your-pain-is-really-depression and other crossover marketing. SNRI's are also harder to quit than SSRIs. 739,000 web sites address "Effexor" and "withdrawal."
Seroquel, Zyprexa, Geodon, atypical antipsychotics

The antipsychotic Seroquel tops 71 drugs on the FDA's January 2010 adverse event report and is linked to unexplained troop deaths and many research scandals. But it's the fifth biggest-selling drug in the world. Atypical antipsychotics cause weight gain and diabetes, the tardive dyskinesia they are marketed to prevent and death in the demented elderly. Yet FDA approved Zyprexa and Seroquel for children last year and the new atypical antipsychotic, Latuda this year. Maybe the FDA is bipolar.

Ritalin, Concerta, Strattera, Adderall and ADHD Drugs

ADHD drugs rob "kids of their right to be kids, their right to grow, their right to experience their full range of emotions, and their right to experience the world in its full hue of colors," says Anatomy of an Epidemic author Robert Whitaker. But they are a gold mine for the drug industry. During an August conference call with financial analysts, Shire specialty pharmaceuticals president Mike Cola lauded the "very dynamic ADHD market," and the "co-administration market" (in which kids don't need one drug but several.


Some drugs alter behavior, even though they are prescribed for other purposes. Consider these drugs used as migraine and pain medications:

Lyrica, Topamax and Lamictal

In August FDA ordered a warning on the seizure drug Lamictal for aseptic meningitis (brain inflammation) but it is still the darling of military and civilian doctors for unapproved pain and migraine uses. All three drugs increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors according to their mandated labels, in addition to the memory and hair loss patients report.

I urge you to read the article (link here) and then purpose to protect your loved ones from the ravages of dangerous drugs. It may mean holding your own doctor at bay until you can research a drug's effects.

Standing against a culturally established authority figure  like your doctor may be hard. But sometimes you should "just say,'No!'"

Daddy, why do we live in a police state? -- 5

Continued from "Daddy, why do we live in a police state? --4"

For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged. (Proverbs 28:2)


Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom, it is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. (William Pitt, before the House of Commons, November 18, 1873, as quoted by James Wesley Rawles)

As America has progressively forsaken the standards of God as prescribed in His Word -- and His Word is Law, indeed -- the bureaucracy has grown. Now legions of regulators pry into every aspect of your business, in order to micromanage your life "for your own good."

A society that has refused to acknowledge the God of Scripture and to live in terms of Gospel faith and Gospel deeds, has come under God's judgement. He has consigned us to rule by an increasingly more terrifying, totalitarian system that seeks to displace Him in our lives.

God is showing us what life without Him looks like, and it looks a lot like hell. Men call good evil and evil good; civil authorities promote the murder of the unborn and praise every degenerate perversion, while at the same time they seek to restrict the worship and practice of the Christian faith.

The persecution of the minority who sincerely seek to follow Christ stands as a rebuke to society at large and a call for their repentance. The title of this series comes in the form of a question of a child to a father: "Daddy, why do we live in a police state?"

An honest and discerning father would have to answer, "Because we have forsaken God, despised His grace, ignored His precepts and chosen to trust in our Uncle in Washington over our Father in Heaven."

This, of course raises the question of how we get out of the mess in which we and our fathers have entangled ourselves. Hint: it makes no difference which oppressor you vote for at the polls.

To be continued

Lunges for Peak Fitness?

Before the New Year, I started my walking routine again. It's basic cardio-fitness, and it gives me an opportunity to pray for the folks in each house that I pass.

I do pushups for upper body strength, and I supplement with self resistance exercises for upper body strength. What I really need, though, is something that will push me to peak output, which has numerous benefits, including fat loss, stimulus of body's natural HGH production, increasing efficiency at a cellular level (mitochondria), and so forth.

I know that sprints are probably the best way to do this, but the last time I tried it, my knees and ankles took such a pounding that I knew I would do damage if I persisted. That's why this video interested me.

The lunges can provide an intense workout without impacting my joints. I can also do them indoors when the weather is bad, as they don't require a lot of space.

The tough part is just making them part of the routine, so that they become a habit. Anyway, here's the video:

The Withering of the Wicked

When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever: But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore. (Psalm 92:7-8)

In spite of the hope that many folks have placed in the results of last November's elections, 2011 may prove a rough ride. The economic outlook is grim, and the draconian measures of the police state creep inexorably forward.

Yes, things may look a little bleak, but that's just the short view. In the short term, the wicked may flourish, but Scripture assures us of their long term destruction.

Meanwhile, the Christian Martialist must remain spiritually fervent, mentally alert and physically ready for the sake of the flock. 

The following exhortation bears repeating:

If you can keep

   -- your conscience clear

   -- your powder dry

   --your edge keen

   -- and your bowels open

You will acquit yourself well in the day of battle

Be Strong

Here's the gospel song of exhortation entitled "Be Strong". My wife Laura found it, and I thought it would be a good one to post for the new year.

The author is Maltbie D. Babcock, who also wrote "This is My Father's World." The melody is called Harold (composed by Carl F. Price), and you can hear it at this link.

Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle, face it, ’tis God’s gift.
Be strong, be strong, be strong!

Be strong!
Say not the days are evil—who’s to blame?
And fold the hands and acquiesce—O shame!
Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God’s Name.
Be strong, be strong, be strong!

Be strong!
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day, how long;
Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.
Be strong, be strong, be strong!

If It Didn't Really Happen . . .

. . . it should have.

I received the following story in an email from my barber, and then it appeared in an article on the internet. Since it's getting around, you may have already seen it, but it's good enough to reprise it here.

This version comes from the following link over at American Vision:

Gun Control Advocates Are Not Your Friends

The following occurred after an older gentleman cruised thru a stop sign and got pulled over by a local policeman. Fellow hands the cop his driver's license, insurance verification, plus his concealed carry permit.... Here's how the conversation went:

"Okay, Mr. Smith," the cop says, "I see your CCW permit. Are you carrying today?" 
"Yes, I am."
"Well then, better tell me what you got."
Smith says, "Well, I got a .357 revolver in my inside coat pocket. There's a 9mm semi-auto in the glove box. And, I've got a .22 magnum derringer in my right boot." 

"Okay," the cop says. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, back in the trunk, there's an AR15 and a shotgun. That's about it." 
"Mr. Smith, are you on your way to or from a gun range...?" 
"Nope."
"Well then, what are you afraid of...?" 
"Not a d---- thing ..."