Mindconnection eNL, 2009-08-02

Because Americans persistently vote Demopublican, you can't prevent the govt from robbing you (in other countries, the problem isn't nearly as bad). However, there are some things you can do to prevent other victims of govt robbery from robbing you.

To secure your home from invasion (OK, burglary), think of your home as a series of concentric circles. We start with the widest circle and work our way in.

• Don't provide pathways to your domain. For example, many small business people have their home phone number on their vehicle. This isn't very smart. First of all, it's a poor advertising medium. Second, it's a piece of information a burglar can use. Think of various pathways you might use and shouldn't, such as sweepstakes entries. If your e-mail address uses the domain of your ISP, that's another pathway and an extremely poor security practice.
   
• Secure the perimeter. This is where security analysis typically starts. It's on the edge of this concentric circle where the burglar begins to breach your defenses. Remove things that provide cover, such as bushes up against the home. Install motion sensors, or at least one motion sensor light.
   
• Keep doors locked, and use secure locks. Most people have no clue how to provide a home with secure ingress; contact your local locksmith for an inspection and advice. Be prepared to spend money, and not just a little. A decently secure door, frame, and lock system might run you $1,000. But suppose someone said, "I'll give you 3 minutes to arm yourself before I come in if you give me $1,000 or I'll just sneak up on you and slit your throat if you don't spend the money." Seems like a no brainer to me.
   
• Don't advertise, part 1. Common advice here is to suspend newspaper subscriptions. But since newspapers are disinformation rather than information and are extremely dangerous to your mental well-being, don't subscribe to newspapers. Also, consider the wisdom of entrusting the same people who lack editorial integrity to somehow protect your information from being sold by an underpaid employee so that a burglar gets notified of the ideal item to rob you.
   
• Don't advertise, part 2. If you have VOIP or a landline phone, have it roll over to your mobile phone while you're gone or just unplug it. One trick burglars use is they will call several times and if there's no answer they'll assume nobody is home. Typically, they will call one more time from outside to see if it rings. Let them think they just have the wrong number. They dial what they thought was your number and nothing happens.
   
• Don't advertise, part 3. If you buy anything that is a theft target, don't put the box for it on your curb on trash day. Burglars drive through neighborhoods noting who recently bought what by looking at product boxes. Cut these up or spray paint them so the information can't be read. A bit of illegal advice here is to drop the box off at the curb of someone you don't like so that person becomes a target.
   
• Secure the interior, part 1. If there's clutter in your home, remove it. Literally. Don't just rearrange it. Get a large box, trash bag, or plastic bin and start in one corner of any room or closet and work your way around the wall. Unless you simply can't live without the item, toss it in. Then, donate the entire box/bag/bin to charity. Do this on a designated day, once a month. Soon, you'll have a home that is easier to clean, protect, and live in. Don't worry that you might be getting rid of something you might need one day. Probably, you won't miss the item. Worst case, you can replace it but only after making a strong case for doing so and then delaying the purchase to be sure.
   
• Secure the interior, part 2. Look at how you store your valuables. These include things such as high-ticket electronics, jewelry, firearms, cash, account numbers, tax records, etc. Can you store any of this in a bank box? While a two-bit burglar can easily raid the typical residence, it's quite a different matter to break into a bank and go through the boxes one by one. I don't know if that's ever happened; bank robberies are typically quick acts of stupidity designed to grab a few thousand dollars of cash. Also, a bank doesn't burn as fast as a wood-frame home.
   
• Secure the interior, part 3. Be a force to reckon with. Each month, a magazine called America's First Freedom publishes accounts of ordinary, law-abiding citizens protecting their homes and themselves with firearms. The courts have ruled that the police do not have a duty to protect you personally. Police are not your private security force.

From my picture (see Fitness article), you can guess that I'm not the kind of guy a burglar wants to tangle with. But it's even worse for him than it might appear, because I'm also a fourth degree black belt.

I've stopped more than one raging lunatic with a single blow. Years ago, I rented a cabin to stay in while working a construction job. The operators of the cabin place had about 20 of these, and lived adajcent to the premises.

In the wee hours one night, I awoke to the sound of a man screaming in anguish. That was quickly followed by shouting and the scream of a girl. I came outside and saw people in the driveway of the operators' yard. I immediately started running toward them across the short distance.

One of these people was this huge, massive guy. I saw him hit a woman and knock her to the ground. Two other people were already on the ground (later, I learned these were the husband with a broken arm and the son with a broken arm). The big guy was dragging another woman by her hair. The woman he'd just felled was her mother.

I told this guy to let her go, and he did. But then he came right at me. I stopped him with a single movement. It was a forceful tiger claw blow to the left side of his chest. This dropped him and he did not get up until the paramedics removed him later on a stretcher. That particular move drops a person by shocking his heart. If you've been punched hard in the thigh and gotten a "Charlie horse," that's what this is. You do not want to be on the receiving end of it. In this case, it broke several ribs and he was unable to push himself to his feet.

Anyhow, I'm not exactly an easy target in an assault. Even in the middle of the night. Yet, I have a customized pistol for home defense and am trained in its use. Do I really want to shoot someone? No. But that is exactly what I will do if encountering an intruder in my home. It's not realistic to assume someone breaks into your home at 3 AM merely to use the bathroom.

But why don't I, with my martial arts skills, merely disable the person and let the police handle it? Leonard Smith, a Kung Fu master under whom I trained a long time ago, was adamant that anybody can get hurt in a fight. So, staying out of a fight is your best defense. Which is where the pistol comes in. I don't want to put my body in range of some drug addict or other person nutty enough to break into my home.

I'm also trained in using ordinary objects as lethal weapons, so it really doesn't matter where I am if a break-in occurs. The outcome will be the same. It will always end badly for the person doing the attacking.

In fact, some years ago an armed intruder surprised me when I entered my bedroom from the adjoining large bathroom after just having toweled off following a shower. My first indication of a problem was the simultaneous placement of something hard to the back of my skull and the sound of a hammer cocking. That did not end well for the intruder. But still, I would have rather been armed myself. It's so much safer than playing Bruce Lee against someone who is armed.

You need to ensure you have a high level of security inside your home, as it's your final point of defense. Don't let age be an excuse. Anybody at any age can learn how to be the proverbial bear held by the tail if attacked.

Remember: When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.