Preparedness Kit

To start with, I believe in a layered system of gear. The first layer is your EDC (everyday carry) kit. These are the items that you should keep on you at all times. This kit is designed to be sufficient to get you to your next level of kit (generally at home, unless traveling, then it should be in the vehicle).
That next level is what is often called a BOB (bug out bag), and should be equipped with all you need (if absolutely necessary) to live off of the land for a considerable time. Not really comfortably, but it should possess all the necessities for clothing, water gathering and purification, food gathering, fire, shelter, personal protection and first aid.

I have a separate list of what all should be in your first aid kit, as this is very important. The only commercially available kits I have found that are worth a shit are way over priced, and honestly, contain a lot of things you will probably not use, ans not enough of the things you will use a lot of.

The last level is the VE (vehicle extraction) kit. This is a very extensive kit that itself is broken down into five categories ( 1- tools 2- food/water 3- clothes 4- gear and 5- guns and ammunition) and will be stored in large tubs (at least six). If time allows for you to grab this kit before leaving, you should have everything you will need to create a good life for yourself regardless of the situation around you.

And of course all these levels of kit are designed to work together. Each being a compliment to the next. There is a good deal of multiples of certain items in the various different levels of kit. This is not an accident. Certain items are so important that the repetition is a necessity. This is along the lines of the old preparedness saying, "Two is one, one is none."

So enough of the introduction, on to the first kit, the EDC.

E D C Bag
(Every Day Carry Bag)

purse (for a woman) or messenger bag or back pack (I prefer the messenger bag, as this choice allows me the option to carry both my EDC and my BOB, which is in a large back pack, if the need should arise) ,
handgun (actually, I would recommend this actually be carried on your person, an inside the waistband holster being ideal),
flashlight,
extra batteries,
pocketknife (also can be carried in a pocket),
multi tool,
cell phone,
2 extra magazines for your handgun,
compass,
change (money),
2 karabeaners,
paracord 20',
P-38 (can opener),
safety whistle,
disposable lighter,
water purification tablets,
water bottle,
asprin/Tylenol,
Space blanket,
heavy duty garbage bag,
10' duct tape.

Of course this is not the end all be all of needed items, this is a place to start. This is the bear minimum you should carry. Feel free to add to it anything you feel might be necessary to you particular situation. In my own EDC I actually carry a 5 inch fixed blade knife, an entire (though small) first aid kit, a couple of lighters as well as some Vaseline soaked cotton balls and a fire starter, three days worth of high calorie food bars (800 calories a day), a pair of work gloves, and I carry a gallon of water with me everywhere. This not only helps me make sure I am drinking enough water a day (I try to drink at least one and a half gallons a day), but ensures I have a reasonable supply of clean drinking water on me at all times (this is in addition to the water bottle that is in my EDC). I also keep my notebook computer as well as a book, and the various cords and headphones for my computer and cell phone in my bag.

Now honestly all of this can get to be rather heavy, but with regular carry, you will quickly become used to it, and will also quickly come to rely on many of it's items in non-emergency situations (though always remember to replenish whatever you use from it regularly). I would be lost without mine anymore.

Anywho, I hope this helps you be a little bit more prepared.

And remember, preparedness is not just for the coming zombies or the anti-government whack-job paranoid types.

It is about recognizing the reality that it is always better to have and not need then to need and not have.

It should be looked as in the same light as keeping a spare tire in the trunk of your car or a fire extinguisher in your home.

BOB Bag

It's late and I'm tired, so there isn't going to be much introduction to this post.

Basically, this is a rough outline of what I keep in a BOB (bug out bag). This is a worst case scenario, gotta get outta Dodge NOW, leaving with only what I can carry and carry on my back, bag.

It should have all of the essentials for you to survive for an indefinite period of time while covering all of the basics of survival; food, water, shelter, fire, protection, and first aid.

I also recommend practicing with the bag. Do a day long hike with it. Do a two or three day camping trip with it and nothing but it. This will help you figure out if it is missing anything you might need and familiarize you with the use of all the items in the bag. This is vital. In a worst case scenario is NOT the time to learn how to build an emergency shelter or a make a fire or realize that some vitally important bit of kit is not in your BOB. Bush craft skills are like any other, they must be learned and practiced. Learn now the proper technique for sharpening your blades. A dull axe or knife not only causes you to work hard at any given task, but are far more dangerous to use. In a SHTF situation is not when you want a large knife wound to the thigh. 

Anywho, my list of what I recommend to start:

Bug Out Bag

A.L.I.C.E. pack (large),
first aid kit,
flashlight,
extra batteries,
emergency food bars (a couple of weeks worth),
multi-vitamins,
1 MRE,
seeds,
compass,
area maps,
army survival guide,
pocketknife,
fixed blade knife,
sharpening stone and files,
machete,
fire starter kit (cotton balls/Vaseline, magnesium fire-starter, 3 disposable lighters),
2 pair socks,
2 pair underwear,
1 change of pants/ 1 change of shorts,
2 tee shirts,
1 long sleeve shirt,
1 windbreaker,
1 set long johns,
rain poncho,
ammunition,
4 extra magazines (rifle),
2 extra magazines (handgun),
space blanket,
2 large, heavy-duty garbage bags,
water purification tablets,
100' paracord,
fishing tackle (hooks, sinkers, line, floats, lures),
duct tape,
axe (small),
E tool,
Leatherman,
snare line,
blanket/sleeping bag,
mess kit,
toilet paper,
hand sanitizer,
bug repellent,
sunscreen,
P-38 (can opener),
camelback water system,
collapsible water containers,
hand crank radio,
radios/'walkie-talkies',
light sticks,
leather work gloves,
beanie,
money (small bills, change),
USB info storage/family pictures,
notebook/pencils/pens,
safety whistles,
small metal signal mirror,
sleeping pad,

Also add to this list the assault weapon of your choice (AK47 *my personal choice for it's ruggedness* or AR15) and your handgun. Of course, there are solid arguments for grabbing either a .22 caliber rifle or a .12 gauge shotgun instead of an assault rifle. While this is not the post to debate this issue, suffice it to say I personally would grab the AK, though I don't feel one would be wrong or ill prepared if they chose to go with one of these other choices. Actually, I can say the same about the person who chooses to go with a lever action .30-30. Comfort level with, and skill at handling are far more important than having the latest whiz-bang, sub-MOA, flashlight equipped, folding stocked, wonder gun that the authors in the gun magazines make out to be the next quantum leap forward in firearms technology (which, ironically enough are nearly always based on the Stoner M-16 design, which was designed in the late 1950's, or on the Browning designed 1911 which was designed an entire century ago). And honestly, we haven't had a real quantum leap since forward since 1852 when Charles Lancaster introduced the first true center fire cartridge, and honestly even that was part of an evolution and not so much a quantum leap. So pick what works for you and practice with it.

Well, there ya go, that should be a good start. Obviously you will want to customize it to fit your own specific needs, for example, if you take any medication (high blood pressure, asthma, etc) be sure to pack at least a few months supply (this is also covered in the first aid kit). Also, I would recommend a lot of cigarettes if you smoke, or better a few large bags of tobacco and a pipe. When all is falling apart around you, it really doesn't seem like the most apropos time to quit smoking. A large unbreakable flask of your favorite spirits might be worth the space it takes as well, in the comfort it can give you dealing with the initial shock of the situation that  has caused you to rely on your BOB in the first place. What I provided is simply what I keep in mine, and what I recommend as a starting place for someone new to this. However, if you are new to preparedness, and you start with this, you are definitely on the right path.

Latter I will post the list for the VE kit. When taken in its entirety it can seem like a lot to get, and it is. But don't take it in it's entirety. Just make sure you get a little each payday, or maybe try to buy the more expensive stuff with a tax return, or whatever. The point is, get started. It doesn't need to get done over night, but I believe, it needs to get done.

Good night and G-d bless and keep you.

The Perils of Positive Rights, and the un-American Origins of Entitlements

Taxation is theft. As all taxation is coercive in that it must be paid under threat of even greater loss of property or personal freedom and liberty. It is the expropriation of one individuals personal private property by another entity at the threat of violence. That is one of the major problems with any government that seeks to replace personal generosity and individual charity with systematic coercive taxation to finance a doctrine of entitlements, it fails by definition to adhere to the same moral code it claims to be standing for, and uses force to impose on the individual that which the individual should be free to chose for his or herself. It simply cannot exist within the non-aggression axiom.

It, in a moral sense, is no different than me forcing a stranger at gun point to buy my children dinner because I have no money (or, even if I have some money, the man I am robbing has considerably more, more even than his own family could ever use up on food). Certainly it is a moral issue preventing childhood hunger, however neither I, because of my use of force and violence (or the threat of violence), nor the stranger, who acted only under the threat of violence, can claim to have acted morally. Taking another's property through the use of violence and force is not a moral action, regardless of how the property is used after it is stolen. And feeding a child only at the point of a gun hardly qualifies as a moral act. Morality requires free will. If I am not free to choose, I can neither claim credit, nor be held morally culpable, for the action.

Those who believe in the doctrine of entitlements believe in the concept of positive rights, which simply means that you believe you have a greater 'right' to the labor, wealth or property of another then they themselves do. Once you accept that people have these 'positive rights' it only makes sense that you would believe that anyone can, and should be, conscripted into the service of others, regardless of the personal choice of the individual. This is generally done through systematic coercive taxation, and the redistribution of taken monies through various social programs (i.e. Social Security, Obamacare, unemployment benefits, etc, etc, etc). For those who believe in the doctrine of positive rights, the only immoral choice is the one made by the individual in asserting himself in his belief that he has more right to his time, labor, property and wealth then the 'others' who claim a 'positive right' to those same things. Such a person is generally attacked by those claiming a greater right to his property for being 'greedy' for claiming a right to the fruits of his own labor (anyone else see the irony here?), or immoral for daring to oppose a system based entirely on the forcible appropriation (theft) of personal property (more irony), or uncaring, though as I explained above, nobody gets to claim a moral victory when choice is removed from the equation.

The concept of positive rights and the entitlement doctrine are 100% counter to the belief in negative rights (freedom to exercise ones own will, confined only within the parameters of the equal rights of others, and to lay sole claim to your own time, labor and property) that this nation was founded upon. Negative and positive rights can never exist together. They are mutually exclusive. And, as this nation was founded on the Classical Liberal ideals of negative rights as laid out in the Lockean tradition (as opposed to the modern 'liberal' ideals of entitlements and positive rights as laid out in the Marxist tradition) , the belief in, and actions based upon, positive rights truly are anathema to the principles this nation was founded upon, and the document of that foundation, the Constitution, and truly are un-American.