The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Did I Ever Mention …

Posted on | November 29, 2011 | 18 Comments

. . . that I live about a mile from the Appalachian Trail? And that my teenage sons have a pretty serious gun collection?

The reason I mention this is because Professor Glenn Reynolds linked to an article on a survivalist site about the “Redoubt of the East,” which the author describes as the mountains of East Tennessee. That’s about a six-hour drive south of here, so I suppose if there were sufficient warning of “a severe crisis where food and public infrastructure fails,” I could zip down I-81 and beat the stampede out of D.C. and Baltimore. But I’d probably just stay put.

While I do not wish to derogate the merchants of freeze-dried food, generators, et cetera, I’m not really worried about surviving whatever apocalyptic scenario prompts the hunker-in-the-bunker preparedness industry. There’s enough venison on the hoof hereabouts that we’d survive all right, I reckon.

But there’s one problem: If post-apocalyptic America doesn’t have WiFi, how the heck are people supposed to hit my tip jar? On the other hand, the tip-jar action has been slow enough the last few days, maybe the apocalypse already happened and nobody told me.





Category: Instapundit

Comments

18 Responses to “Did I Ever Mention …”

  1. Joe
    November 29th, 2011 @ 3:59 pm

    If I click on your site to the Amazon add, do you get the cut on anything I buy?  Because that is what I have been doing this Black Friday and Cyber Monday week.  I hope you get your cut. 

  2. Rob
    November 29th, 2011 @ 4:20 pm

    If anything was to go bad, I think you would have a hard time surviving without any preps. If I were you, I would get some water purifiers, some extra lighters and a few good quality knives. maybe a good handgun/rifle for yourself.

    You have car insurance right? doesn’t it make sense to prepare for economic trouble? The way I see it, We are heading for hyper-inflation, maybe not today or this year, but in 10 years?

    Obama has had 3 years driving the country into the ground. and he still has 45% approval. even worse, and instead of electing a charismatic conservative, we get a choice of the best moderates the GOP can offer. I don’t see how the country can turn around and get back on the right track.

  3. Ima Wurdibitsch
    November 29th, 2011 @ 4:22 pm

    I learned this past April that I was not purposely prepared for much of anything. My preparedness was due to mostly dumb luck and a good friend.  That said, I’m now much better prepared – be it for food/infrastructure failure, major social unrest, natural disaster, or zombie apocalypse. 😉

  4. Rob
    November 29th, 2011 @ 5:04 pm

    If your ready for a zombie apocalypse, your ready for anything.

  5. Dianna Deeley
    November 29th, 2011 @ 5:06 pm

    Did you ever get the percentages for the books I buy? I don’t always remember to go through your site, I know, but I try.

    BTW, you’re out of luck (barring some truly incandescently brilliant writing) from me until January. It’s expensive, going to Tennessee from California.

  6. Ima Wurdibitsch
    November 29th, 2011 @ 5:29 pm

    Double-tap. Just in case.

  7. Anonymous
    November 29th, 2011 @ 5:39 pm

    I think we’d all be shocked at how fast the big game disappears when everyone has to hunt.  In short order, people would be complaining that they can’t find rabbits anymore, and we’d see folks trading recipies for doves, and other small game birds.

    I’d give it five months before hunting became a group effort, requiring trips further and further west, just to find and defend your kills.

  8. Joe
    November 29th, 2011 @ 5:52 pm

    If things really fell apart millions would die.  Living off the land would not be a option unless you live in a very rural location.   Things would get rather bad rather quickly.  But I do not see that happening (God I hope not).  But I do things getting worse before they get better. 

  9. Joe
    November 29th, 2011 @ 5:53 pm

    And in such an scenerio, what would we do without The Other McCain?

  10. Anonymous
    November 29th, 2011 @ 5:55 pm

    Don’t know how dense the population is in your neck of the woods, you might be surprised how fast that “fast food on the hoof” gets wiped out.

  11. Anonymous
    November 29th, 2011 @ 6:27 pm

    How’d this years tobacco crop do?

  12. Anonymous
    November 29th, 2011 @ 6:37 pm

    Yes, of course I get a cut of the Amazon sales, and thank you for your patronage.

    The problem, however, is this: Sixty days elapse between when you buy the stuff and when Amazon sends me a check for the commissions. They just now sent me  a check for the September sales, so I won’t collect my November commissions until the end of January. Between now and then, I’ve got to (a) book travel for the campaign swing from Iowa to NH to SC to  Florida, (b) buy Christmas for my family and (c) pay bills.

    So … please hit the tip jar, if you can.

  13. Zilla of the Resistance
    November 29th, 2011 @ 7:28 pm

    Perhaps you should get a PO Box address and then people can snail mail you some tip jar action? For those who don’t like to send money electronically and also in case of the mega apocalypse when we will be relying on carrier pigeons to bring us your expert punditry at the end of the world.

  14. Zilla of the Resistance
    November 29th, 2011 @ 7:31 pm

    Also, BTW since you mentioned it, I live near the Appalachian Trail too, here in NY’s Hudson Valley, in fact, the trail ran right through my Grandpa’s old property where I used to play as a little kid. I’m just a few miles from it now. My dad used to take us hiking on the trail and tell us all about he history of the place. Bill Bryson has a terrific book called A Walk In the Woods which he wrote after hiking nearly the whole thing, it is a fun read 7 I highly recommend it. I carry it at my Amazon bookstore, but of course people can find it through Stacy’s Amazon links as well. 😉

  15. Anonymous
    November 29th, 2011 @ 8:06 pm

    I see somI’m not the only one to have read Dies The Fire and One Minute After.

  16. Anonymous
    November 29th, 2011 @ 9:23 pm

    An excellent suggestion.

  17. Zilla of the Resistance
    November 29th, 2011 @ 9:33 pm

    If people would hit my tip jar, I might be able to get one for myself, too. Then I can get my hatemail in hard copy! 😉

  18. t-dahlgren
    November 29th, 2011 @ 10:49 pm

    I live in the tri-cities of NE TN, and previouisly have lived in north Idaho, Montana and northern Arizona.

    None of them are viable redoubts in a TEOTWAWKI situation, for varied reasons.

    In the case of Tennessee your problems, be it on the Cumberland or closer to me in the Appalachians are the interstate highways – I-81, I-40, and I-75 all of which will bring the hordes descending on whatever you attempt to defend.