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

September is National Preparedness Month

From floods, to hurricanes, earthquakes to tornadoes, you never know when nature will unleash its fury. Though many of those natural catastrophes can catch you by surprise, there a few things each of us can do to minimize damage to life and property.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign kicks off National Preparedness Month hoping to raise awareness and promote action by businesses and communities on emergency preparedness.

Seriously? Our .gov is designating this as National Preparedness Month? These clowns are hardly in a position to talk about preparedness. Nevertheless, lets follow this rabbit hole and see where it goes.

Hmm. The fedgov has a cute little webpage about it. And apparently Fearless Leader took time off from his golf game to make a proclamation about it.

Unless the .gov is really prepared to take some solid steps towards encouraging citizens (or subjects, as the current administration may view them) to be prepared, real actual roll-up-your-sleeves steps, this is all just hype and window dressing.

Some states in hurricane country have tax breaks at certain times for people purchasing perparedness supplies and thats a good step in the right direction. (Notice that its a state/local incentive…not a federal one). What could the fedgov do if they really wanted to encourage citizens to be prepared?

Bunker Tax Incentive – you build a disaster-proof home you get tax breaks on it across the board. Drawback: your home has to be vetted by some .gov goon. Perhaps administer it on a local/county/state level to keep it a little more private.

Repurposed surplus .gov/military gear – skip the DRMO. Tents, field kitchens, water trucks, earthmoving gear, etc, etc that .gov was going to retire goes to individual state preparedness  organizations.

Federal support of state preparedness initiatives and organizations – One size does not fit all. If each state can come up with educational programs and training the feds should offer to back it up. Or, at least, not screw with it.

Decommissioned military bases retasked as state-level disaster bases – those old military bases with their runways, concrete bunkers and acreage? Give ‘em to the states for the purpose of becoming disaster headquarters. Runways for supply flights,  plenty of acreage for staging vehicles and supplies, hardened facilities, commo bunkers, power generation sites, etc, etc. They would make excellent headquarters for each states disaster response programs.

Theres a host of other things the feds could do if they really wanted people to be prepared. You could argue that the more prepared a populace is the less need it has for .gov assistance and that might be counter to what the politicians want these days. :::shrug::: I dunno. I just know that the Tom Ridge-era of duct tape and plastic sheeting jokes hasnt really passed yet and the number of people taking this sort of thing seriously in .gov hasnt seemed to have increased.

But…in the spirit of National Preparedness Month I will certainly buckle down and work a little harder to prepare for the upcoming economic collapse/revolution/zombiepocalypse.