Here’s some not very cheery economic news I just read at money.CNN.com:

“. . . More than half of the $9 trillion in debt that Uncle Sam is expected to build up over the next decade will be interest.

More than half. In fact, $4.8 trillion.

If that’s hard to grasp, here’s another way to look at why that’s a problem.

In 2015 alone, the estimated interest due – $533 billion – is equal to a third of the federal income taxes expected to be paid that year . . .”

I wonder if emigration from America to more financially stable countries is going to increase over the next several years? China might be a good place to go. Just kidding! I think Americans will stay put, but we are going to be in for one hell of a financial awakening in a few years.

Stock your pantry and stack your ammo! You’re probably going to need both.

This “what if” scenario video on CNN is a reasonable portrayal of what may lay ahead for the United States if swine flu takes off. This could become a very serious pandemic, and if you haven’t gotten your prescription for Tamiflu, I’d get it now before pharmacies run out. My local pharmacy has already run out of Tamiflu.

I assume you are all as alarmed as I am about the onset of this swine flu virus. BHM has written fairly extensively about the possibility of a pandemic involving a 1918-flu-like virus, and have even published a book about how to prepare yourself against this and other society-wide threats. But I always hoped we would never actually have to face such a threat. This swine flu, unfortunately, may be the real thing.

My daughter, Annie, the managing editor of BHM, told me this morning, “Dad, this is like the Perfect Storm. We have the possibility of a disease pandemic, the country is in a severe recession, and there is widespread political dissatisfaction on the right with the Obama administration. I hope we don’t get a cataclysmic weather event on top of this.”

We are battening down the hatches here, preparing to isolate our family against the outside world, and making plans to produce the next issue of BHM with a staff that can isolate themselves in their own homes. I hope it won’t be necessary, but isolation is the only real protection against a virus from which humans have no immunity. We are also buying Tamiflu and Relenza, which will help fight off flu.

We have plenty of food, fuel, and guns and ammo in our home, and we live way out in the woods. Today we’ll buy as much meat as we can, and jerky and freeze it. If this swine flu develops into a pandemic, the supermarket shelves will empty quickly. I advise anyone reading this to take this pandemic threat seriously.

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A comment on this post from www.realselfreliance.com has a link to an excellent video on swine flu from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control): Click here to read it.

Pistol River at the mouth

I live near Pistol River, which is normally pretty quiet. Here it is after two days of big rain. The mouth at the ocean broadened from fifty yards to a quarter mile. This will “wash out” the river and trigger something in the steelhead waiting offshore. When the river begins to drop, the steelhead will start swimming upstream. I’m not sure how many steelhead are in the ocean off of Pistol River, but there are lots in the ocean off the Chetco River 8 miles to the south in Brookings. All the locals are getting ready to do some serious fishing.