On Preparedness

Hola friends. Let me start by saying that I'm not here to be a fear-monger or an alarmist, or create any more anxiety than needs to exist. There's plenty of that out there, and I've found that at most it paralyzes you into more inaction, and at the worst it just adds to that glazed-over layer of anomie or apathy that we already have.

That said, I believe we can take a reasoned approach to the situation at hand, and quite possibly do something to prevent catastrophic events from happening. Or, if they do happen, we can at least be prepared.

These are the facts as I have them. About 6 weeks-one month ago, the Army was running mysterious "training drills" with BlackHawk helicopters over downtown Denver. Every night around dusk- 8pm at the time, for 2 weeks. They were very loud, kind of scary, and most of all, unexplained. The local news sort of got to the bottom of it by talking to the chump in charge, who basically told the reporter/local populace to quit worryin' and let them take care of things. Ok, what he really said was they were training for some type of catastrophic event like a natural disaster, but social upheaval could produce the same results. He wouldn't say exactly if it was connected with the increased security for the Democratic National Convention in August, but this guy also wasn't a very good liar, and you definitely got the impression of "um, yeah, it is." Don't believe me? Google either 9news or 7news, Denver, and then search their sites for their stories on the matter.

2nd thing: Just last week, Homeland Security apparently got all up in Denver Water's grille, and forced them to close the dam road that goes over Dillon Dam because it was a "potential terrorist target." Denver Water immediately complied, without asking anyone in Summit County what they thought about it, and put up barriers on the dam road that very day. Two days later, the Summit County Sheriff's department got back in DW's grille, and said take those down or we'll shoot- or something. No, they'd sue them, but you get the picture. The closed road was adding about 4 hours onto their response time for emergency services.

If you're not from here- Lake Dillon/Reservoir is one of the main sources of water for the Denver Area. So sure, I guess it could be a terrorist target. But I think even the average Joe knows (in fact, Joe told me) that only a pretty darn superior air force, or someone with ICBMs, or perhaps a stolen nuclear bomb like in a Tom Clancy novel, would be capable of blowing up a huge, earthen dam like Dillon. So that narrows it down to basically....us. Seriously- who the hell else is going to get into our airspace as far as Colorado, or launch an ICBM targeted specifically at Dillon dam from...? India? Probably not.

The resulting flood, if the dam were destroyed, would be hugely destructive to the Summit County area (goodbye, Silverthorne factory outlet stores!) and downstream would certainly be a mess... and god forbid, all those folks in Highlands Ranch would have to quit watering their damn Kentucky Bluegrass lawns for a few months because of the temporary water shortage... but, wipeout Denver? I doubt it. So even if BushCo is planning something like this to coincide with the Democratic National Convention which starts on my birthday in August... yeah, not the best plan.

You follow me so far? Maybe I made a few leaps there without articulating all the in-between stuff. Another fact (or two): this current administration has already proven that they are capable of anything, including mass murder of their own people so they can stay in power. They've also stolen two elections, fabricated two wars out of whole cloth which are siphoning off our resources as a country and crippling our economy, once the strongest in the world (just 8 short years ago). They routinely smear or "out" anyone who investigates anything about them, and they are good friends with not only the Saudis and especially the Bin Laden family, but more importantly, with the heads of the corporate media. All of this has already made the population (which is sizable) vulnerable, weak, and prone to believing whatever crap comes out of the idiot box that promises to keep them "safe."

Prone, I say, but not necessarily so. If people are like me, all this crap upon crap upon crap, coupled with no healthcare and the high cost of gas and food, makes us cantankerous as all hell. There's what you see with your own eyes, and experience with your own broken back and tired heart, and then there's the utter shite, which is looking more shite-y every day, coming out of the TV. It adds up to cognitive dissonance on a grand scale, and it don't add up to complacency, which may be one of our saving graces.

So we got that goin' for us, which is nice. But these guys, these no-talent assclowns who've shat upon our country and pissed on the people, and laughed that evil laugh and call us "stupid" when we call them on their crap- those guys? Yeah, don't count on them leaving quietly. My basic point here is, we need to look at past behavior as an indicator of future behavior. We need to be calm and reasoned and determined about it, but make no mistake, if we ignore this shite and just assume "everything will be ok once Obama's elected.." we are heading for imminent disaster. These guys know they'd be in jail, for life, by this time next Tuesday if someone not in their cartel gets into power. Ask yourself, are they behaving at all like people who are just a wee bit nervous about that possibility?

Are they "making nice" and worrying about "legacy" projects?

So. Assuming that I'm right (and you know I am) and these schmucks try and pull another stunt like 9-11, or exploit some other national disaster for the sole purpose of declaring martial law, cancelling the elections and declaring W President-for-Life.... what are y'all prepared to do? I know for our part, we've got some emergency food stashed in the basement, along with 5-gallon water containers,and I've started growing some food outdoors in containers. Should the shite hit the fan for real, I have landscaping tools to help me tear up this stupid lawn and plant more food. (property owner be damned) One thing we don't have is a gun. I don't think I want one of my own, in the house because of the kiddo (and as I've joked before, someone of my temperament probably shouldn't have one close at hand), but I do want to learn to shoot one. This is where the redneck brother-in-law who hunts comes in handy.

Back to what we got goin' for us though. There's the cantankerous part- say what you want about Americans being fat and lazy and ill-informed, when push comes to shove, you don't want to piss us off. Even die-hard Republicans, who simultaneously believe government should be "small", and that you should shut the hell up and trust it implicitly if there's an "R" after someone's name- don't like being told what to do. There's also the fact that this so-called President has a disapproval rating of like 80%, on a good day. Which begs the question, if he and his henchmen try to attack us again, who the hell would be carrying out his orders, in good conscience? Seriously? Yes, there are the Blackwater and Khaki guys who've been getting all sorts of "crowd control" training in Iraq, and yes, New Orleans after Katrina. But the country is so broke now, there's no way we could pay them enough to turn their guns on mostly-unarmed American citizens. I think. I'm putting my faith in them having a conscience, and acting according to what they know is right, and not necessarily what they've been ordered to do.

There's also our geography, which is awesome. As a GIS professional, I can tell you what you already know with some authority: this country is big. Population wise and land-area wise, BIG. It's not Germany, it's not England, it's not even Serbia. Ah, you bring up example of former USSR, twice as big but under boot of Soviets for 50 years? Well, when the Soviets rolled in to remote villages with their tanks and guns, it was already a starving, illiterate,broken country. Their citizens, pobrecitas, did not have the internet, or infrastructure, or sometimes even a common religion/culture or language to unite them. So, nice try. Also the Russian people (et.al) were pretty used to authoritarian governments stomping all over them, whether it was the Tsar, or Lenin, or Stalin. They hadn't ever experienced true democracy and the possibilities it unfurls for the average person.

ok. That said, it's no reason to get complacent. I'm arguing for the opposite. Instead of stockpiling weapons and food (although, be my guest if you can do it) we should probably focus more on getting to know our neighbors. Because we are going to need to depend on each other even more in the coming months and years, and it's just a good idea. Don't like your neighbors? don't trust them? Now might be a good time to move. 7 months ago we were living in a place (which we still own) with a neighbor who, lets just say, would probably have thrown us under the bus or turned us in to the Gestapo for a pack of cigarettes. We moved into this rental, and now we love our neighbors in the quadplex, and also like the surrounding ones quite a bit. I'm pretty sure I could count on them to protect us should they need to, or at least help plant a garden. Better yet, I don't stay up nights fantasizing about killing them with that gun I don't own. Cooperation and involvement is going to be key to survival. Pretty much the opposite of what our society is right now, but it does have precedent- during World War II, when everyone was growing Victory Gardens, carpooling, holding neighborhood steel drives and buying food with ration books. It was the thing to do. You were un-American if you didn't do it. And guess what, people had a blast, banding together for a greater cause like that. To hear my parents tell it, it didn't even feel like a sacrifice. They were little kids at the time, so to them it was fun. And how did that story end? Oh, we WON? Sweeeet!!! I'm pretty sure we can do that again.

Most or some of you know I'm an archaeologist by trade. An anthropologist by birth (heh) surely, but an archaeologist because I needed a job and it seemed like a fun way to incorporate all the things I'm actually interested in. Namely, how the heck did us goofy humans survive thus far, and come to even DOMINATE the planet? Surely this is some kind of celestial accident, because there ain't no way our dominance is actually merit-based. Most of my colleagues will admit to coming to the field because of a lifelong disgust/revulsion with the human race and what "it" does, with a simultaneous fascination. ( I too had this attitude... when I was 23 years old. ) Anyway. As such, studying past cultures and how they came to their demise, OR how they miraculously survived to this day, much of the time we are asking basically the same question, or wondering the same thing. If these people had only KNOWN that the drought would last 30 years! That the volcano was going to erupt on August 24th! That those pale-faces were walking social diseases! That lead might make your ceramics prettier, but it kills your brain!!! See, there is a difference with us, because at no other time in human history have we had so much access to so much information, and it's literally at our fingertips. (well, if you live in the First world and have a computer). So there's no excuse.

What I'm trying to do is use my training, of assembling all this data from the past to form a coherent view of what exactly is going on... and apply it to the present day. In my field we try to be as scientifically reasoned, objective and non-judgmental as possible. However, as a human, and maybe more importantly as a parent now, I find it nearly impossible to apply my scientific objectivity and detachment to the current situation. And now especially, a sense of urgency is bearing down on me like an 18-wheeler on a wet rainy highway at night. Many of my colleagues have mentally divorced themselves from the human race, placed themselves intellectually above the fray, and in effect "outside" of present events. This is unfortunate. Some of us however, feel duty-bound to be the "participant-observers" we were trained to be, and we are speaking out.