"The Internet has become a vehicle to help people who thought they're alone in this," says Hogwood. "It's becoming a strong enough movement that we can have these meet-ups."
And Hogwood loves to tout the friendlier face of today's preppers, contrasting them with the survivalist/Patriot/militia fringe of the (relatively) old days." Preppers do not want to be associated with that," he says. "Survivalists are more likely to have a conspiracy theory. Preppers are soccer moms and grandmas."
_____________________
Unlike many of her more rural counterparts in the prepping movement, Jeanene Van Zandt lives in the suburbs outside of Nashville. The former wife of famed late songwriter Townes Van Zandt is a newly minted grandmother and believes America has been on a downhill slide since prayer was taken out of public schools.
She has been actively preparing for the end since Obama's election.
When she was a girl in South Texas, and kids still said the Lord's Prayer to start each school day, life was so much better, she says in an e-mail interview. "I pumped my bike pedals as fast as I could after school in order to catch the next episode of Leave It to Beaver, and then, afterwards, we went 'out to play.' No one knew where we kids were or what we were doing. The grownups didn't care, as long as we were 'out of their hair.' They were happy, the kids were happy."
Today, she believes "evil" lurks around every corner in America, and never has there been more than since Obama took office. (She has little if any more esteem for Mitt Romney.) Since that time, she says she has been preparing for what she believes should be obvious to everyone. "A total takeover by the Federal Government Inc., the Banksters robbing us blind and the UN's imposing Agenda 21, and the Backlash from the American People that is sure to come." (Some believe that Agenda 21 is an international socialist plot to bring about the one world government.)
Van Zandt adheres to the Mormon ideal: She advises people to keep a stockpile of at least three months', and better still a year's, worth of "rice, beans, pasta, flour, oatmeal, sealed in Tupperware," and plenty of the canned goods that you regularly eat. She adds that you should buy more when they are on sale, and advises that you should get a Hurricane-style cooker since you might not have electricity to prepare your food with.
Don't forget to hoard soap and other hygiene products, and to remember your pets' needs, she continues. "Have at least a shotgun to protect your family and plenty of shells," she adds. "Any extra cash convert into silver coins. Not collector coins, junk silver, dimes and quarters from your local coin shop."
(Hogwood thinks hoarding coins is a mistake: "You got a chunk of gold laying around and you're hungry? What are you going to do with that?")
And she says that people need to get back on the land. "Plant a vegetable garden and learn to can and dry herbs and food. I canned for the first time last year and it was quite satisfying." Then you will be ready to face what comes, no matter how foul. "If each and every one of us takes care of our own and we reach out to those who really can't, we should be fine until the Criminals are marched off to the FEMA Camps they built for us and we regain our Freedom," she says.
And then she turns the screws on the president.
"I still have Hope," she writes.
And to prove it, she has purchased all three of her infant grandchildren the complete works of Leave It to Beaver on DVD.
_____________________
Obama isn't the first president to deal with preppers or their predecessors, survivalists.
There were a great many such groups under President Clinton, says Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to statistics compiled by the SPLC, there were a peak of 858 Patriot-style militia/survivalist groups in 1996.
Potok believes that this wave of militant prepping collapsed under the weight of its incorrect predictions that Y2K meant the end of the world or something close to it: a hellish race war nightmare scenario. "They thought that when the computers ground to a halt, the welfare checks wouldn't go out, and angry, scary black people would storm out of the cities to attack white farmers...Steal their food, rape their daughters and so on," Potok says. "That was the secular version of Y2K, but there were also many who saw it in purely biblical terms: that it was in fact the eve of the battle of Armageddon."
And, of course, nothing of the sort happened. "In many ways, the first day of the new millennium, was the last day of the first wave of the Patriot movement," Potok says. "They had pretty much universally predicted that the whole world was going to come crashing down, and when the sun rose as usual on January 1, it pretty much put the kibosh on the whole militia movement. The leaders had been very much urging their people to go out and buy generators, so all their basements were full of 100-pound sacks of lentil beans and very expensive generators, so there ended up being a lot of anger in the militia movement toward their leaders."
And by the way. Can I state the obvious here? If you paid $50,000 MORE for your home (as you stated down the page) than the tax appraiser valued it, then you might have paid too much! In this economy, all I can do is shake my head after reading your comment. It's a buyers-market right now. Hate to break it to you, but it sounds like the Seller/Real-Estate agent saw you coming....
Erm. Can I state the obvious here? If you paid $50,000 more for your home than the tax appraiser valued it, you might have paid too much!
Neartown/Montrose area, the tax appraisal has been stuck at the same rate for 3 years, yet the houses have dropped in value by typically figures of $100,000+. The city of Houston however have not reduced their taxes. Clearly you live miles from town. I gave you a real example already, go look a Zillow, examples are easy to find as you approach Downtown Houston.
Well someone has to dig in the dirt in the 100 degree heat to keep you safe doncha know? Whether it's The National Guard or just plain volunteers like you or me. Sometimes it takes a lot of work, to work out the problems. You have to contribute something to the greater good. Otherwise you're just a burden on the rest of the people. Katrina, Ike, need I say more? During Katrina, some people were happy to pee in holes and live in tents, trailers, cars, or whatever would save their lives. You aid society by not being a burden on it, that way the people who really do need the help get the help they need. Don't be a burden on the rest of us, if that day ever comes, next hurricane or whatever... At least prepare for that, as the News & Weather Channels and Government suggests you should.
like Jeffrey explained I didnt even know that a single mom able to earn $6503 in one month on the computer. have you seen this webpage lazycash42.c()m
Eh...I just bought a house and the county's appraisal is a good $50,000 less than what I paid for it. In fact I don't think I know anybody whose tax appraisal is actually above their real market value, and most folks I know have a tax appraisal that's less.
These folks can do as they like. The 95% of us who enjoy buying our groceries at the market so we don't have to break our backs in 100 degree heat digging in the dirt for our very survival are gonna go ahead and try to work out our problems so we don't ever have to live in tents and pee in holes.
Is there any political argument that cannot exploit Hitler in some way? I'm calling foul and charging you with breaking the Lame and Predictable Talking Points Rule. I just made it up. The penalty is me and approximately half the readers of this thread groaning and rolling our eyes.
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
