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

Seems most folks are posting about their New years resolutions. I figure if something is a good enough idea that you want to incorporate it into your life, or come to think that changing some aspect of your life is important, why wait until the begining of the year? Sure, it looks neater on paper but if its really a good idea, just get going with it already.

To stay on topic, if theres anything regarding preparedness that I want to be different in 2010 than 2009 its probably pretty simple stuff..,more time in the boonies, make more money, pick up a few odds and ends. Nothing major. Mostly because Im fairly content with where things are now in terms of our level of preparedness. There’s always room for improvement, sure….but overall I think that if the zombies showed up tomorrow, I would be your king in pretty short order.
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I see the TSA (”Making America safer one stripsearched grandmother at a time”) has gotten their nuts in the wringer again. I hated flying back when this was a free country, I hate it even more now. If it has gotten to the stage that I cant read a book or listen to my iPod while on a flight then I’m pretty much going to give up flying and just drive. At least, until they start the internal passport system.

Folks’ll squawk and there’ll be all sortsa complaints but in the end the ‘if it saves just one life’ crowd will win and we’ll all be flying naked, strapped down and shackled like a planeload of Guantanamo recruits.

The notion of giving up a little essential liberty for temporary safety is truly getting out of hand. It’s a dangerous world out there and I realize that but I’m willing to accept certain risks. I dont want to live in a world made of Nerf and I certainly dont want .gov asking “Your papers, please” in the name of ’safety’. Someone might say “If you had a loved one who died in the 9/11 attacks you would feel different”. Actually, no. I do not have a single friend who would want their deaths to result in the encroaching police state. I can tolerate metal detectors and showing ID at the airport…barely. I’ll go along with that. But if someone passes through a metal detector, an explosives detector, is x-rayed, has his luggage rifled through, and is ‘behaviorally profiled’ and is allowed onto the plane then what the heck difference does it make if he keeps his paperback in his lap during the last hour of the flight? Heck, why wouldnt they just do their dirty deed during the first hour of the flight instead?

I could rant against the TSA for hours, flecks of floam spraying from my mouth, hands clenching and unclenching….real berserker stuff. But what good will that do me? Instead, I choose to just not have anything to do with them. If one walked into my shop and wanted to buy something I’d tell him to leave. He gets a different job where he’s not part of a thuggish .gov agency, he’s welcome to come by. I might call an ambulance if I saw one having a heart attack on the pavement, and I might even help him because, despite his hideous career choice he’s still a human being, but when he gets out of the hospital and asks if he can buy me a beer I’ll tell him that Id rather he rethink his line of work.

Anyway, part of me is slightly pleased to see TSA looking bad these days.
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When its ten degrees out and everything is frozen its an excellent time to order seeds for the spring planting. These are the guys I’ve been ordering from lately: Victory Seeds. I was quite please with the tomato and pepper seeds I got from them and planted last year. This year will be more of the same, although I think Ill start them indoors a little earlier this year.