Thoughts and Opinions

Hi all, Doug P. Bell here. Just like the first issue, this issue of
The Independent American is also free, but that will soon change.
Starting with the third issue we will need to charge for a
subscription to The Independent American. We have done our best to
keep prices low, a mere $15 for 6 e-zine web issues, or if you would
prefer, we will send you a B&W print copy for only $6 per issue.
While $6 for each issue might seem a bit high, that is basically our
cost at .06 cents per printed page and postage. For your $15 (web-zine
cost) or $6 per printed issue (like I said, that is our cost and just an
added service for you, our subscribers) you get the best information
available. But we need your help. Please join up now, so we can see
if there is enough interest to keep the magazine going and make it
profitable. You may have noticed there were no adverts in the first
issue, just 72 pages of the best information available. That means
we are paying for it all right now and we need you to show your
support for us by sending in your subscription as soon as possible.
There should be a link on www.hd-works.com for you to pay with Pay-Pal,
or you can send us a check or money order ($15 for the 6 web issues, or $6
for each print issue) to: Douglas Bell, POB 1894, Iowa City, Iowa 52244.
Thank you for your support.

Now on to the fun stuff! You may have noticed a few minor problems
with the first issue of The Independent American Magazine. A few
misspelled words, some things that may have needed rewritten or changed
slightly so as to be more easily understood,  better edited, or just
not perfect. In short, not up to our hoped for standards. OK, I take
complete and total responsibility for it. That's right, it was all my fault.
As editor, if there is a problem, it is my fault, so if you have a problem,
tell me. Contact me at Indeamer@hotmail.com or Indeamer@37.com. If they
don't work, write to me at: Douglas Bell, POB 1894, Iowa City, Iowa 52244.

Of course I could whine and  make excuses why the first issue wasn't
up to our hoped for standards. I could say I had a fire at the house
and am still digging out, remodeling, cleaning, and working on the
damage. I could say my Mother is moving to a retirement home and I
I'm spending eight hours a day for the last month fighting my siblings over
what she should be allowed to take, what should be sold, and what should be
thrown away. My view is everything in her home is HER'S and she
should be allowed to take anything she wants. This is a very
unpopular view, and I mean VERY unpopular! I could say that my
computer died and I've been without a computer in the home for three
months while it was getting fixed, but it doesn't matter, it is MY
responsibility. So now we have changed a few things, like now the articles
will be all in one piece, not broken up so you have to go look for "the
rest of the story". We will do our best to check the spelling better and
correct it, make sure the articles are clear and complete, easy to read and
well written. Let us know what you think.

As for what to expect in up coming issues of The Independent American, we will
have our regular columns such as the book reviews. Glenn Boman will have a
reloading column. Corcceigh will continue with his edible plant series.
There will be surplus gun reviews, and such articles as How to Dress Like a
Million (while living like a bum), Living in the Belly of the Beast (or how
to live cheap in an expensive world), home repair such as chimney repair
and toilet tank rebuilding, edged tools (planned sections to include carbon
steel and stainless steel kitchen knives, outdoor/skinning knives, fighting
knives, axes and machetes), A Big Steaming Bucket (inspired when one of our
writers was handed a big steaming bucket of...er...droppings, shall we say,
by his lawyer and told it was fudge. When someone hands him a line he will
tell you about it too), Kitchen Counters - what's out there, Cookware -
what do you REALLY need?, Thoughts From All Over (our roving reporter tells
you what things he sees and hears of interest while on the road), One Eyed
Ed from the Wilds of Wyoming with his think pieces and product reviews.

Of course we will always tell you the truth about what we find and won't
pull any punches with the products we review. This is not a popular view,
as you already know, with most magazines. To survive, the various magazines
need the help and support of the industries they are involved with, after
all they rely on free products and help from the same people they are
reporting on. Report the truth and no one will want to send them any new
toys to play with. Don't believe it? Write just about any magazine and ask
for their writers guide lines. Some will hem and haw around it, some will
state it plainly, and even tell you why, but all of them say they will not
report on, and don't want any unfavorable reviews of poor products. If it
is crap, garbage, junk, useless, worthless, dangerous, or sub-standard, you
will NOT hear it from them! Of course they don't want to publish something
from someone who has an ax to grind and may not report accurately, but then
they also don't report on problems they themselves have with products sent
to them either.

A good example of this is a specialized gun magazine I get. They got the
various telescopic sight manufactures to send them scopes to be mounted on
heavy recoiling rifles to be shot until the scope failed or the test got
over. The fun started when six out of the 19 scopes were defective from the
manufacturer! So those scopes had to be replaced. Then quite a few of the
scopes came apart at the first shot! Remember, these scopes retail from $400
to $2000 each, with the majority of the scopes in the $1,200 to $1,500
range, and one shot reduced them to so much scrap! Now what?! Do they report
what happened in the test and lose all that ad money? Ignore the test and
not report on it after all that time and money was spent? Gloss over the
failures, or just ignore the failures and only report on the scopes that
made it all the way through? Admit that most of the scopes that made it
through the test, called off mostly due to lack of time and money, were on
the ragged edge of failing as well? Well it was, as usual, a combination of
of things. I don't know what scopes were useless scrap from the factory, but
they did report on what happened with the rest of the scopes. They also were
up in arms at the editorial office about reporting the findings as well.
What about all that lovely ad money? What if no one would send them any toys
to play with if they reported the truth about the products? We don't have
that problem at The Independent American. We have a firm policy of telling
you, the reader, what we find and will not gloss over the facts or finding.
Of course we may not use any bad product reviews sent in either, because we
won't have any way of knowing if there are problems or if the person is
telling us the truth either. It's a sad world out there when you need to
pass up reporting on something just because someone might want to harm your
magazine. Oh well.

If you want or write for us, please do! We always need good writers and when
in doubt, send it in. Let us know what YOU want, what you like, what you
don't like. Don't be shy, we need to know what went wrong as well as what
went right. Put in a classified to buy or sell, a Survivalist Directory
listing to meet others, let us know what you would like to see articles on,
reviews of and just to keep in touch. Most importantly, send in your
subscription so we can start getting you the best information available.
Thank you.

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