What kind of "Scenarios" do DUers think about when they can't sleep?

[Pachamama]

I'm just curious...while I personally try to live in "Love", not "Fear", I am also someone who believes in being prepared and having a Plan B and C...

I've had some bad dreams lately and when I can't sleep (which is often) I try to meditate or do yoga or go for a walk/run....but my mind does start to "think" about what Plan B and C should be, just in case...

One Scenario I've "imagined" and contemplated is as follows:

Sometime in the next several months, there are significant terrorist attacks both abroad and here in the US...significant in terms of the damage to transportation (airplanes, trains, shipping ports etc.),economic structures (ie. oil pipelines, communication centers, power plants etc.) and meanwhile to population (dirty bombs in city centers with large populations) and to food and water sources (contamination, poisoning etc.). A combinination of such attacks on a few or even all of these categories would have such a huge economic impact on our already weak and unsteady economy and would result in huge panic and problems on a scale most of us living our cushy, air-conditioned American lives couldn't comprehend. Just getting safe drinking water and food (in terms of availability in getting it to people) becomes a challenge and people are scared. The $$$ falls further especially in light of our booming deficit and debt and the gov't either prints more money, inflation sky rockets and there are most Americans who have refinanced their house out the kazoo that when their house/property is worth only 1/2 of what it is now, and have either lost their job or can't make money to pay for the house, food etc...then what? What if, dirty bombs went off in city centers and people can't go into cities or many are sick and dying? What if, then, our gov't, in all its wisdom declares "in the interest of national security" that a form of martial law takes place? What if this happens before the elections? What impact do you think that could have? What if you wanted to leave the country, but couldn't?

Think this can't happen? Look at the problems even recently our economy and most Americans suffered when gas prices went up...it affected people incredibly and its impact was felt not just at the pump, but at the Supermarket and elsewhere. That was nothing compared to what can happen to our "oil dependent" economy was suddenly hit w/ no Oil - wonder why Bush &Co. didn't want to tap into the Strategic Oil Reserve? Its because they "know"....Imagine the situation in Saudi Arabia getting so bad that attacks not just on workers but on the production & pipelines are damaged/destroyed or even the House of Saud falls and the ruling "tribe" doesn't want to send us our Black Gold...Many of us in California remember in 1989 the Earthquake in the Bay Area (Loma Prieta) and you couldn't find bottled water on any shelf anywhere. What if we all suddenely needed water & food? What if we can't even drive to find it?

Because of the above possible scenarios (which are not so unrealistic) while I try not to live in "Fear" but because I have a responsibility to care for my family and always have a "Plan B and C", I am seriously preparing for the possible scenarios (and no, I don't mean Duct Tape and Plastic Sheeting)...but seriously, we might all need to know how to grow plants, have a source of water, protein food source (chickens etc.) and "know how" to survive...even if its in a nice little neighborhood in America....possibly all of ours...

Just curious...what do other DUers "think" or contemplate? What precautions would you take?

:think:

[prole_for_peace]

1. i don't even think about it.

i'm not worried about anything happening. also i live in se texas which is FULL of petroleum plants and other kind of chemical plants. we would probably get hit fast and i wouldn't even know anything had happened. this whole area would just be gone. but hey...i wouldn't have to go to work anymore, so that is a plus.

[Newsjock]

2. This is where the rubber hits the road, isn't it

Some random observations, in no particular order:

1. BushCo doesn't care about any of this, because they earnestly believe that Rapture will happen before (or shortly after) any of this takes root. The scenarios you described are, in my opinion, not only a possible goal of the neocons' rule, but a desired goal.

2. I ask myself, more often that I'm comfortable admitting, whether I would even want to live in the world you describe, and which I've often described to myself. If the dream of "America" is so thoroughly destroyed that it simply cannot comeback in our lifetimes if ever, what's the logical response?

3. I've only taken the most basic steps, mostly because (like so many others) I simply don't want to confront the reality of #1 above. I've got a little more cash on hand than I normally do, and I've been drmatically improving my bicycling endurance to the point where, if I truly had to, I could make it a few hundred miles over several days. But home gardens, or shudder firearms? Nope, not here, even though a logical analysis would suggest that both could be essential sooner rather than later.

4. I was only a lil' Newsjock during the oil crisis of the mid-'70s, but I remember the lines and the odd/even. What's different now? Back then, we had many allies and friends, and OPEC's disdain was spread wide. Now, we are the rogue nation, the object of hatred, scorn, and ridicule worldwide. Our populace has become increasingly ignorant, and our corporations have raped the planet and poisoned the global culture in the name of the quarterly balance sheet. In the '70s, there was a sense that we would get through this. I no longer have that sense.

5. I have absolutely no doubt that BushCo would not hesitate to kill hundreds or thousands (more) Americans in order to further their goals. They've already more than amply demonstrated their lack of respect for life. Sure, I thought Gerald Ford was a little loopy and clumsy back then, but I went to bed thinking that he had the best interests of the American people in mind. That's a huge difference from then to now.

6. I think #1-#5 mean that I've succumbed to fear. And does that mean that I've let BushCo win? It's not quite the fear they've tried to instill in us, but it's fear nonetheless, and it's sometimes crippling and all-encompassing. ("Is this the last time ever that I'll be able to see the Grand Canyon?" Tough to enjoy the majesty when that's going through your head.)

7. A Democratic president can't fix these problems in four years, or even eight. Sure, a Democratic president is absolutely a far cry better than four more years of Armageddon Bush, but we're only fooling ourselves if we think our world will be back to normal anytime sooner or even later.

8. And #7 is why hopelessness reigns. This isn't the world I wanted to live in for the rest of my life. And it's almost entirely out of my hands. Yet we try to go on as if it's still Business As Usual, when it's clearly not. You know this, and I know this. But so many millions do not know this -- or don't want to admit it.

9. The bottom line: I don't have a friggin' clue what to do. Sure, I'll vote for Kerry -- and I'll do everything I can to get others to do likewise. But I don't think for a second that we'll wake up in January 2005 to the world we once knew and loved.