Don't you agree that we should expect & prepare for the worst?

Pessimistically speaking that is, and considering who is at the helm of the ship of state, shouldn't we be coming up with a few worst case scenarios and at least try to prepare ourselves for them to lesson the inevitable panic?

Look how they abandoned the people of New Orleans when disaster struck. What if San Francisco had a bad earthquake? What if we suffer another terror attack? I know I sound like Chicken Little with the sky falling, but we are out here on our own people, they have no regard for us whatsoever.

I'm just saying, look at their recent history and you tell me where this is all headed.

Murphy's Law(s) and all that, don'cha know. :-)

We had better prepare ourselves for one hell of a battle, not just in Iraq, but Iran, Syria and It may wind up right here in America.

avoid the worst-case scenarios.

What do you have in mind - stocking up a cave with MREs and ammo?

No thanks. I'd rather live and fight in the here and now. Chicken Little is for the birds, and I resent Boys Who Call Wolf - they only stampede the sheep.

be prepared but live in the here and now.

hits? Global sea rise? Total economic collapse? Evangelical Christians or Muslims banning everything they don't like?

Sorry, I don't see any point in building a bunker or planning a revolution. Whatever happens is going to happen and I can't imagine what I could do now to survive for more than a short time. If a revolution comes, I might take a side, or I might not, and if some caclysmic event happens, just how much canned goods could I stock or ammo could I buy to fend off the starving hords after my stash? If I survive at all.

Maybe if I had tons of money I would build a cave in a mountain somewhere and convert all my assets to gold, but I don't so I won't.

I'm wondering how this nation will survive another two years of bush unbound.

I can't think of a damn thing I can do about it at this point.

Most of me hopes we'll survive like we've always survived, but a small part of me kinda hopes that if the shit is going to hit the fan it hits soon so Shrub and his neocon masters take the full blame and get hauled off in irons.

One nice thing I always liked about parliamentary governments is the vote of No Confidence. Impeachment for just fucking up the job would be the same, but it ain't gonna happen.

That would take two years if we started today. Apparently if we declared the war over it would also take a couple years for it to actually BE over. I'm not too optimistic.

that won't be easy to change, and, yeah, impeachment would be nice but it would be a wasteful diversion from getting everything back in order.

Many big civil criminal trials can stretch out for more than 2 years. You are absolutely right--there is not enough time for impeachment. But there is time for the Democrats to do many things that will be good for America and Americans. If I were a poor senior citizen struggling to pay for my meds or a person without health insurance, I might like to see those issues addressed rather than spending 2 years concentrating on impeaching Bush. At the rate he is going, Bush will be a broken old man by the time he leaves office.

was at a meeting about the possibility of a flu pandemic. He let us know what the county had planned to meet this. But what he said, which he acknowledged himself, would work in any crisis situation. (He even went so far as to say expect to be on your own if any kind of disaster strikes)

He said it was important to have at least a two month's supply of food and water on hand. Have extra medicine if you take some regularly. Have a network of friends/family you can count on to help with things like repairs, first aid, transportation, etc. Good advice, I think, and something that wouldn't bankrupt anyone--we got supplies for under $50, and have a cistern for water. I'd add that it would be a good idea to have alternative forms of power, such as solar, wind, or water. Those these are more expensive, they will be a worthwhile investment.

everyone in case any sort of disaster hits. I remember being out here when a hurricane hit and we had no power for over a week. Not exactly life threatening, but with everyone having their own wells and electric pumps, it was a problem. One we dealt with with friends with generators and in the one town with power.

Candles, batteries, some sort of cheap inflatable raft or boat if in a serious flood area, cooking fuel...

Nothing drastic for a long siege, but what'll keep you out of the worst trouble for a while