Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I can’t see how this ‘health care reform’ that the Obama administration is trying to push through can possibly do anything except make things worse. I’m relatively healthy and when I need a doctor its usually for something rather acute like stitches, and even then I can usually just pay that out of pocket…but I foresee an overtaxed medical infrastructure and new levels of beauracracy. If getting into an emergency room, or making an appointment with a doctor, is difficult now I cant imagine what it’ll be like when 300 million people suddenly can all ‘afford’ to go for medical treatment. I just can’t see how this is going to work.

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Someone pointed out the Discovery television show “Colony“.  Broadly, its a cross of “Survivor” and “Jericho”. I don’t have much hope for it. My exact reply was “They could do this show alot cheaper by just wiring a beat up hotel in Somalia with webcams, dumping the ‘contestants’ in there and then writing “rich unarmed Americans are here!” on the side of the building in six foot letters. That’d be some ‘reality’ tv right there.” As if trying to stay above water in the New America isn’t enough of a challenge. You want reality tv as it relates to survival? Get a couple with two kids and a mortgage, make mom a ’stay at home’ mom, give dad a pickup truck he can barely afford, put them in a house that eats 50% of the take home pay with every mortgage payment, and then have dad get downsized. Thats survival. And reality. And every day I am grateful beyond words that that isn’t us.

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As time goes by and I read the news every day I am more and more convinced that yesterday will be looked back upon as ‘the good old days’ and every day is going to be incrementally more insecure and unique than the previous one. I am, however, determined not to have it impact us as bad as it is going to affect the poor bastards out there who live their lives thinking ‘I dont want to think about bad things happening’. Because, as we know, if you dont think about bad things they wont happen..right? Right? There’s no way we can stop this train wreck before it happens, all we can do is be prepared for it and thats pretty much what we’re doing. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Believe it or not, my lovely wife has never been on an overnight camping trip. She’s decided that since we live in Montana we should take advantage of Montana’s incredible outdoor recreational opportunities. She’s developed an interest in ultralight backpacking which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. She picked up this ultralight tent and took it with and wound up using it for the first time in a hellacious thunderstorm. It weathered tings quite well, kept her dry and didn’t turn into a tattered pile of rags despite the intense winds. How intense was it? Very intense. But she was glad it happened because it gave her confidence in her gear and herself.

I’ll probably go with her next time and then we’ll see if thats a good thing or a bad thing. But, really, if youre going to live in Montana it would be kinda foolish not to take advantage of things.