Says it all...

via Green Mountains

Personal Space and Body Alarm Response

I stumbled across these guys.  they have some insightful articles that are good for beginners and for those that want to brush up on some things.

via ITS

Yesterday morning while stopping at a gas station to put air in my tire, I was approached by a stranger. The first words out of his mouth were to ask “if I was from around here,” immediately sending me into condition orange.

I’d like to explain my statement earlier about condition orange and provide a brief example of the Cooper Color Code here for reference. We’ve previously mentioned Colonel Jeff Cooper here on ITS, in regard to his carry conditions and firearm safety rules, but he is also known for advocating a color code to describe a person’s state of mind. Not so much in regards to a level of alertness, but purely the mental state.
The following comes from his book, Principles of Personal Defense:

• Condition White – You are unprepared and unready to take lethal action. If you are attacked in White you will probably die unless your adversary is totally inept.
• Condition Yellow – You bring yourself to the understanding that your life may be in danger and that you may have to do something about it.
• Condition Orange – You have determined upon a specific adversary and are prepared to take action which may result in his death, but you are not in a lethal mode.
• Condition Red – You are in a lethal mode and will shoot if circumstances warrant.

Patriot group targets Bank of America

The Bank of America Declaration

via Examiner

Bank of America, the nation's largest banking institution, is under fire from a patriot group for various infractions, including a corporate stance against the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to Justin Combs of Arctic Patriot.

Combs is one among several concerned citizens who are circulating a declaration that calls on Americans to close their accounts, sell their stock, and cease doing any business at all with Bank of America.

While Combs states that Bank of America is not the source of the problem in the banking industry, it is a big part of it due to its sheer size and its willingness to throw its weight behind politicians who work to undermine the protected rights of the people as delineated in the Constitution.

Of particular concern to Combs and others who have signed the declaration is the bank's contention that gun rights are not consistent with its official Code of Ethics, according to the posting at Arctic Patriot.
Bank of America's top executives are donors to the Barack Obama campaign.

Among the infractions listed in the declaration is Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch, for which it received $118 billion dollars in a government backdrop to purchase the rival corporation, and another $20 billion dollars from the taxpayers in a bailout in 2009.

According to the New York Times, the banking giant had already received a capital infusion from Treasury before taking the added $20 billion:

The second lifeline brings the government’s total stake in Bank of America to $45 billion and makes it the bank’s largest shareholder, with a stake of about 6 percent.

In addition, the declaration states that Bank of America illegally foreclosed on the homes of active service men and women, for which it paid a settlement out of court in the amount of $20 million dollars. 

According to Combs, the motivation for the group's actions against Bank of America is the belief that currently in the U.S. there is a fuzzy line that separates government from large mega-corporations, and that in order for the nation to return to its founding principles such a line must be clearly drawn that separates the two.

The unity and partnership of government and large corporations is one facet of fascism, a totalitarian system in which individual citizens have few rights in lieu of the collective rights of government and large business entities.

Another of the nation's largest banks, JPMorgan Chase, is also under fire for squandering at least $2 billion dollars within the last month, in spite of a massive government bailout in 2009.