NITTINFOOL

It got a little cold...

2012-02-13T21:13:00.000-06:00

we lost electric for two hours. Just four of the houses on our street...weird. But they had to turn off the whole neighborhood in order to fix the problem so no lights anywhere. It's really strange but whenever the lights go out here it gets really, really quiet. Kinda nice actually. We had our lamps and fireplace ready though. DH said we were the only ones with lamps on. We only have those little fake logs to use so it doesnt get really warm in here but the fire makes you feel warmer I think. Gotta love looking at the fire.

More on store bought lettuce

2012-02-11T14:23:00.000-06:00

Jane over at Hardwork Homestead had an interesting post on her chickens not eating leftover lettuce. Check it out for yourself:

http://hardworkhomestead.blogspot.com/2012/02/now-for-something-really-scary.html

And check out the comments she has gotten too.

RIP Karen

2012-02-11T10:14:00.000-06:00

This is a pic of my sister in law Karen and her husband Mike. She passed away this morning from transplant rejection complications. She had suffered with Crohn's since she was a teenager. She is in a much happier pain free place now living it up with her grandmother, mother and aunts.

I wondered what was up...

2012-02-10T15:11:00.000-06:00

when I heard on the news about the birth control thing requiring insurance companies to give out free birth control. Now Obama is backpedaling cause he's got the Churches upset...hmmm.

On the latest video I saw he was saying that this policy wasnt supposed to come out until next year but he told them to do it in a week but this wasnt politcal yea right...seems there's an election coming up wonder why he thinks we might think it is political...hmmm.

Anywho - here is an article by the New American that I found on Article 21 put out by the UN last October. I found it very interesting, I think you will too. Now I dont normally think there are any conspiracies going on but this one, well read it for yourself and see what you think.

According to the United Nations, the earth’s population will reach seven billion by October 31. For the world body, however, that is not something to celebrate. In fact, the UN Population Fund is focused on ways to decrease the world’s population, and has selected October 31, “7 Billion Day,” as a day to raise awareness about “sustainable development.”

The United Nations has openly proclaimed that the world’s increasing population is a cause for concern. Likewise, the UN has advocated for its Agenda 21 program that seeks to bring about “sustainable development.”

On February 10, The New American’s William Jasper wrote of Agenda 21:

The UN’s Agenda 21 is definitely comprehensive and global — breathtakingly so. Agenda 21 proposes a global regime that will monitor, oversee, and strictly regulate our planet’s oceans, lakes, streams, rivers, aquifers, sea beds, coastlands, wetlands, forests, jungles, grasslands, farmland, deserts, tundra, and mountains. It even has a whole section on regulating and “protecting” the atmosphere. It proposes plans for cities, towns, suburbs, villages, and rural areas. It envisions a global scheme for healthcare, education, nutrition, agriculture, labor, production, and consumption — in short, everything; there is nothing on, in, over, or under the Earth that doesn’t fall within the purview of some part of Agenda 21.

Agenda 21 is yet another means to achieve ultimate control. Additionally, as noted by LewRockwell.com, a key component of Agenda 21’s sustainable development is population control, since Agenda 21 seeks to achieve reduced consumption, social equity and the preservation and restoration of biodiversity. Proponents of Agenda 21 and sustainable development believe every societal decision should be based on environmental impact, including land use, education, and population control.

A United Nations resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly specifically designed to implement Agenda 21 reads:

….population growth rates have been declining globally, largely as a result of expanded basic education and health care. That trend is projected to lead to a stable world population in the middle of the twenty-first century… The current decline in population growth rates must be further promoted through national and international policies that promote economic development, social development, environmental protection, and poverty eradication, particularly the further expansion of basic education, with full and equal access for girls and women, and health care, including reproductive health care, including both family planning and sexual health, consistent with the report of the International Conference on Population and Development.

Likewise, the March 2009 U.N. Population Division Policy brief began with the statement, “What would it take to accelerate fertility decline in the least developed countries?”

The same theme was prevalent in the 2009 World Population Report released by the United Nations Population Fund entitled “Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate.” That document made a number of frightening assertions:

•"Each birth results not only in the emissions attributable to that person in his or her lifetime, but also the emissions of all his or her descendants. Hence, the emissions savings from intended or planned births multiply with time."

•"No human is genuinely "carbon neutral," especially when all greenhouse gases are figured into the equation. Therefore, everyone is part of the problem, so everyone must be part of the solution in some way."

•"Strong family planning programmes are in the interests of all countries for greenhouse-gas concerns as well as for broader welfare concerns."

Many of our own lawmakers and members of the Obama administration have openly called for population control. Former vice president Al Gore, for example, made the following statement regarding population control:

"One of the things we could do about it is to change the technologies, to put out less of this pollution, to stabilize the population, and one of the principle ways of doing that is to empower and educate girls and women. You have to have ubiquitous availability of fertility management so women can choose how many children have, the spacing of the children.

You have to lift child survival rates so that parents feel comfortable having small families and most important – you have to educate girls and empower women. And that’s the most powerful leveraging factor, and when that happens, then the population begins to stabilize and societies begin to make better choices and more balanced choices."

Maurice Strong, head of the United Nations Environmental Program, alluded to population control and more when he stated in 1990, “What if a small group of these world leaders were to conclude that the principle risk to the earth comes from the actions of the rich countries? In order to save the planet, the group decides: Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring this about?”

President Obama’s Science Adviser John Holdren wrote a book in 1977 called Ecoscience in which he indicated support for forced abortions, sterilization through infertility drugs or through the nation’s drinking water or food, having babies seized from single mothers or teen mothers and given away to couples, requiring that “people who contribute to social deterioration…be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” (i.e. more forced abortions or sterilizations), and creating a transnational “Planetary Regime” that controls the global economy and dictates the details of American lives by use of an armed international police force.

Holdren went so far as to say that the United States Constitution permits population control, “Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society.”

Population control has also found support amongst other prominent Americans, including Microsoft’s Bill Gates, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sierra Club Director David Brower, Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger, and David Rockefeller.

Given the United Nation Population Fund’s push for decreased population, and the surprising level of support it has received within our own federal government, groups like the John Birch Society are pushing to defund the UNPF. According to the JBS:

The propaganda from the UNFPA (known as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities from 1969 to 1987) indicates that its programs do nothing more than “reduce poverty and ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.” And how does the UNFPA accomplish such lofty-sounding goals? By promoting “family planning,” access to abortions, and instituting sex-ed programs, especially for youth.…
So, instead of promoting policies that would delay marriage and childbearing for the poverty-stricken of many countries, the UNFPA encourages promiscuity. Instead of abstinence training, a sexual revolution is advanced. And, instead of telling teens the truth about free sex, they hype the glories of condom use that afford little or no protection from sexually transmitted diseases rampant in many third world countries. Shockingly, the UN’sanswer to gender discrimination and sex selection brought about by the one-child policy is “safe” abortions.
Fortunately, the U.S. House of Representatives Relations Committee has introduced HR 2059, which defunds the United Nations Population Fund. The legislation has 83 cosponsors and is said to save taxpayers $400 million.

What’s clear is that the American people must act quickly as civilized nations are beginning to act in accordance with the UN’s drive for population control. In the United Kingdom, for example, the Daily Mail reports that thousands of “abnormal babies” are being selectively aborted each year. This is expected behavior in a world where population control takes center stage.

P.S.-
By the way I dont have any problem with population control as long as it is in the hands of the couples or women and NOT the government. Hey you want to have 16 kids go for it as long as you can support that many kids and dont expect the tax payers to pay for them. If you have too many and cant take care of them, please give them up for adoption. I am so angry and upset at these mothers that have children and end up abusing them or killing them because they cant cope. There are many couples out there just waiting for a child.

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2012-02-10T04:31:00.000-06:00

http://mymemories.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2db59f577e9668b002ca5c0af&id=ca8f63bd41&e=aaa5ac808b

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount: STMMMS94069

Interesting blog post

2012-02-08T07:37:00.000-06:00

http://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/that-isn-wax-on-your-apple/

Yep not from me though....LOL.

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2012-02-03T09:31:00.000-06:00

Here's a tutorial on using the freebies!

http://forum.3scrapateers.com/freebies/UsingtheCard.pdf

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

It happened...

2012-01-29T14:11:00.000-06:00

We got a freeze last night down to 28. I havent checked the blueberries but they might be OK. DH said that they only had little buds on them.

Big commotion out in the coop this morning and we're up to three eggs today! Yay! We have golden comet chickens and they are pretty noisy (proud) when they lay an egg. We have three laying boxes out in the coop and of course they all want to lay in the same one at the same time it seems LOL. I take them a treat every day in the afternoon. Today they got some spinach and grapes. They go bananas for grapes although there are a couple that just love the spinach. There isnt much green out there so not much to nibble upon. I went out with DH in the early evening. He likes to see them before they go to bed and it relaxes him after putting in a long day at work. Lucy wouldnt go up on his shoulder while I was out there. I think she has a thing for DH ;)

The cats are out except for Tikki who has decided that the only time to go out is in the early morning and after dark. He has such delicate skin and is so worried about getting sunburned LOL.

Hope your day is going great!

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Peepers

2012-01-28T16:34:00.000-06:00

We heard the first peepers last night. Hope they dont get frost bitten cause it's supposed to freeze tonight. Crazy frogs were jumping all over the roads last night. Hubby was trying to miss them and actually did but you know the person behind us didnt try to avoid them.

Our blueberries have buds on them. Think we will have to kiss them goodbye with the frost coming tonight but hope not.

Has anyone started their seedlings yet?

Bee Article -

2012-01-28T14:00:00.000-06:00

Bees have been dying off around the world for a decade now from a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. A third of the U.S. food supply depends on the honeybee

The collapse of bee colonies is probably multifactorial, rather than a response to one type of toxic assault; one major factor is the toxicity of systemic pesticides, such as Clothianidin (made by Bayer)

One Colorado beekeeper named Tom Theobald exposed the EPA’s complicity with Bayer in allowing Clothianidin to market without honeybee safety studies

An average of six different pesticides were found in hives across the country, with one hive testing positive for 31 different pesticides, in one recent study

More than 75 percent of the honey on American supermarket shelves is not honey at all, but rather an ultra-processed mixture of sugar-water, malt sweeteners, corn or rice syrup, jaggery, barley malt sweetener and other additives, smuggled in from China and tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals, such as lead

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/28/bees-death-destroy-food-supply.aspx?e_cid=20120128_DNL_art_1

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2012-01-27T07:10:00.001-06:00

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

I went, I saw and I conquered...

2012-01-23T22:59:00.000-06:00

Well not really but I did go to therapy again today. Boy oh boy did she hurt me but I can move my shoulder better tonight. I have to go back on Wednesday and got new exercises to do tomorrow as well. Yippee...yuck.

Our chickens are giving us about two eggs every other day and look like they are out of molt now. Our friendliest one, Lucy, also known as Lucy-Goosey, has a new trick. Hubby likes to go out and pick her up and she must like it too because if you dont pay attention to her she pecks your leg. Anyway she was being held by said Hubby when she flapped her wings and flew up and landed on his shoulder. She is a character. She also has gotten up onto his head before and pecked (very lightly) his hair. She has pecked my leg before if I dont pay attention to her too but she likes Hubby better I think LOL.

We had severe storms last night and there is still flooding in parts around our area. I guess the almanac was right when they said we were going to have a wet winter. I sure wish that some of the rain would hold off until summer though cause that is when we really need it.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Cop or Soldier?

2012-01-22T11:51:00.000-06:00

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=cop-soldier

Yep fooled me quite a few times. I guess when in doubt say its a cop...kinda scary.

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday - Late sorry!

2012-01-21T11:10:00.000-06:00

http://mymemories.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2db59f577e9668b002ca5c0af&id=87bf6bebfd&e=aaa5ac808b

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Well that went well...

2012-01-21T00:18:00.000-06:00

Went to therapy and they hurt me. I expected that though so no problems. I got diagrams of the exercises I am to do twice a day. My shoulder actually doesnt hurt so much this evening especially after I did a second set of exercises but boy did that wear me out so off to beddy bye for me. I know its late but I had to catch up on some of this work cause those darn fairies did not do anything while I was away today. I'm up early in the morning to work some more (gotta pay for that therapy).

We're getting some storms blowing in tonight and tomorrow morning. Hope everyone is not getting too much snow where you are!

Just checked my stats. Sure do have a lot of people from the US that read my blog along with people from Russia, France and Germany and many other countries. It really is a small world isnt it? I appreciate each and every one of you that read my blog. Dont all be lurkers though, let me know what's on your mind.

Sleep Tight!
Denise

Does it hurt here?....

2012-01-20T07:57:00.000-06:00

Yep I broke down and went to the doc yesterday. Finally after three months of dealing with my shoulder/arm I went. He gave me a steroid shot in my bursa which if you dont know is the cushion between your shoulder and arm. He had to pull down on my arm to get in there and today it is seriously hurting big time. I have to go to therapy today in a few hours which will hurt just getting there as I have a stick shift. Doc said I have a frozen shoulder. I really hoped to avoid that. In 2008 I had adhesive capsulitis on my left arm and went through the same thing only I could move it less but this time I kept doing my exercises so I could move my right arm and shoulder a little. Bursitis hurts. Doesnt matter which joint its in. I hope that the therapist can work it out cause if they cant and it just keeps getting worse then I will have to go to a surgeon. The surgeon will knock me out and manipulate it. I would be out of commission for at least two weeks...sigh.

You hit 50 and its all downhill LOL.

GM mosquitoes

2012-01-13T11:35:00.001-06:00

Yep those darn scientists have done it again. They are releasing GM mosquitoes in Florida. They have had their genes modified so that they die off instead of reproducing. The scientists are hoping that these GM ones will mate with the regular mosquitoes and it will make the population go way down. Hmmm, do ya think that they werent really thinking here? I know, I know that this will cut down on mosquito borne diseases but and here's a big BUT, what do you think is going to happen to all those birds and bats and such that eat mosquitoes...hmmm scientists? Do you think that maybe you got brains but no common sense? Just cause you can do something doesnt mean you should. Your mommas should have slapped some sense into ya. We'll be seeing some birds dying off big time from this fiasco just wait and see. Maybe that's what is killing the birds now. The experts are saying that it is mass bird suicide or trucks run into them and so on but what if it is the mosquitoes? And who knows maybe they have other bugs they are working to become GM's and have already released them but havent told us poor fuddlebrained yokels about them because we just wouldnt understand.

I'm just shaking my head right now...

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2012-01-13T05:58:00.001-06:00

What strange weather...

2012-01-12T23:35:00.000-06:00

Very very strange. Yesterday we had severe thunderstorms and flooding and today we had snow and falling temps. There is ice on the roads too.

News on the home front: Two chickens are now back to laying not just one like before. We are up to two eggs every other day YAY! Had to resort to some store bought eggs for a month there but back to really good eggs now. Now if we could just get the mud out of their run. Nothing like sinking an inch when I go to feed them. It's like glue too.

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday - Late sorry!

2012-01-07T21:56:00.000-06:00

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-12-30T04:53:00.000-06:00

http://mymemories.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2db59f577e9668b002ca5c0af&id=9a2b073f70&e=aaa5ac808b

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

No whining!

2011-12-29T23:15:00.002-06:00

Been gone a long long time...

2011-12-28T23:12:00.000-06:00

but I'm back at least for this post LOL. I'm covering for people on vacation at work so blogging will be sporatic but I will be back with more photos soon! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday and didnt gain too much weight snacking on all that wonderful homemade food. Nothing much going on here just working and wondering how cold it can get without any ice or snow...hmmm.

Here's an old photo from the 40's. It has kind of crappy shadows but the people you can see from left to right are: My aunt Dee, Great Aunt Jess, My Grandma. The little girl in the front is my Aunt Teena. We havent figured out who the goofy boy is in front but mom figures he's a cousin but she wasnt sure and neither was Aunt Teena. Oh my how the mind goes after you hit 70 LOL. Give them a few years and they will remember who it is and how he's related. Arent the dresses they have on lovely?

Until next time, when my fingers will be nubs from all the typing I'm doing, this is Denise signing out!

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-12-23T04:50:00.000-06:00

http://mymemories.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2db59f577e9668b002ca5c0af&id=ed46d493ac&e=aaa5ac808b

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created! Remember you dont have to have the My Memories Suite to use these templates.

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-12-16T03:58:00.000-06:00

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Musical video on GMO's

2011-12-13T09:55:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu2qKI2Ju9s

Not bad, not bad at all....

This one will really make you mad

2011-12-12T05:04:00.000-06:00

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/12/04/lobbyists-stealing-government.aspx?e_cid=20111211_SNL_MC_1

ALERT -- Europe Bans X-Ray Body Scanners Used at U.S. Airports

2011-12-11T08:59:00.000-06:00

The European Commission has banned X-ray body scanners that use “backscatter” radiation technology from airports, “in order to not risk jeopardizing citizens’ health and safety” – but they are still in use in the United States

Backscatter X-ray scanners expose your body to ionizing radiation, which causes cumulative DNA damage that can lead to cancer

Because the scanners’ X-ray beams are concentrated on your skin, not distributed throughout the volume of your entire body, there is concern that the dose to your skin could be dangerously high

The former Homeland Security chief and co-author of the PATRIOT Act, Michael Chertoff, is one of the primary promoters of full-body scanners, and is a paid consultant for the companies that sell them

You always have the right to opt-out of X-ray body scanners while traveling and can choose to have a pat-down instead; if enough people choose to opt-out, it may prompt the scanners to be removed from U.S. airports

Read entire article here: http://emf.mercola.com/sites/emf/archive/2011/12/01/europe-bans-x-ray-body-scanners.aspx?e_cid=20111211_SNL_MS_1

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday - Late sorry!

2011-12-10T11:57:00.000-06:00

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

More family photos

2011-12-08T19:42:00.000-06:00

This is a pic of my granddad. He is the handsome fellow in the middle. Notice they are all smoking. This must have been a special occasion since they seem to be wearing pretty nice clothes and they are standing in front of a mine. My granddad worked in the coal mines probably when this photo was taken about the 1910-1920's.

I would have...

2011-12-08T15:43:00.000-06:00

posted a pic of the wonderful beef barley stew I made yesterday for supper last night but it seems like it's all gone...I only had two small bowls so some mice must have come along and ate the rest of it cause I know my hubby would not have eaten the rest of the crockpot full....

Here is the recipe so you can experience it for yourself:

2 carrots diced
2 celery spears diced (are they called spears? I dont remember I'm having a menopause moment)
1 small onion diced
Stew meat (add as much or as little as you would like, I used 1/2 lb)
Stock beef or chicken (I used chicken) enough to cover
1/2 cup pearled barley

Put all in crockpot and cook for 8 hours on low. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now I must admit I screwed up my chicken noodle soup when I canned it. I didnt know you werent supposed to put the noodles in too so needless to say the noodles turned to mush (another menopause moment ;) So I just drained off the broth and used it in the beef barley stew and threw the noodles away. It worked great! See I didnt waste too much...Ok you can stop laughing now. Now if you put the barley in first thing it will be big and soft so if you like your barley a little bit more al dente (oooh big Italian word) add it during the last hour of cooking and it should be fine.

By the way the stewing meat we got from Trinity Farms not far from where we are. It was pasture raised and the meat tastes great so to give them a plug...check out their website http://www.trinityfarmsofalabama.com/ They also raise pigs for slaughter as well. I got some pig fat to make some lard from them. Half a side of beef filled our freezer so we are set for meat for the winter, and spring, and fall and winter...two people just dont eat that much in a setting well unless it's beef barley stew LOL.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Food Democracy Now - Stop Traceability for Livestock Program

2011-12-08T13:38:00.000-06:00

Dear Friend,

Once again the Obama administration is proposing burdensome regulations that will disproportionally harm family farmers while factory farmers get an intentional break. If you thought NAIS (the National Animal Identification System) was dead, think again! Right now the Obama administration is attempting to sneak a scaled-down version of a new "Traceability for Livestock" program onto farms across the U.S. through a new backdoor proposed USDA regulation.

Just like last time, the group ID is alive for factory farms, saving them lots of money, while family farmers and those who raise a few animals, like backyard chickens, will face the expense and burden of individually tagging their animals if they cross state lines.

The USDA's proposed new "traceability" rule will act like a driver's license for your backyard chicken or an ID card for a cow in Western Iowa crossing the border into Eastern Nebraska. If Obama gets away with it, this new Animal Identification rule will act like a tax on every livestock animal that crosses state lines - something that happens THOUSANDS a times a day in the United States!

Click on the link below to protect our farms and our right to own animals by submitting your comments today! DEADLINE for comments is COB Friday, December 9.

We need them to hear your voice today. Please spread the word.

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_new_animal_ID/?referring_akid=.316027.i2JQ5M&source=taf

More family photos

2011-12-07T19:32:00.000-06:00

I dug out an oldy but goody here. This is my grandmother's family, the Andersons from the early 1900's. My grandmother is the little girl in white in the front. She was born in 1899.

More family holiday photos

2011-12-06T19:20:00.000-06:00

I found some more!

This is my crazy brother and our dog Princess. This was taken in the late 70's.

This is a pic of my mom's sisters. Left to right: Aunt Dee, Aunt Teena, Aunt Jean and my mom. Yes they are all from the same parents...my mom takes after my grandfather's side of the family and she is the youngest. This was taken around Easter but I'm just guessing since Aunt Teena is wearing a rabbit on her sweatshirt.

Christmas pictures

2011-12-05T19:05:00.000-06:00

I thought I would post some family photos from holidays past so here we go. Try not to make too much fun of our hair and outfits OK? LOL

This is the adult's table. Left to right: My Aunt Teena, my mom, Uncle Bob, Uncle Don, my dad, Aunt Dee, Aunt Jean and Uncle Gene is behind the camera. Aunt Dee and Uncle Don are no longer with us.

This is the kid's table. Didnt matter how old we got we had to sit at the kid's table LOL. Left to right: Scott (Jen's husband), Arielle (Jen's little girl), Jennifer (my cousin), my hubby, me and in front is Josh (Jen's oldest). My brother, Jen's sister, and Linda and Pam (my other cousins). Josh and Arielle are all grown up. These pics were taken in the late 80's.

I'll try to find some more.

Sound Living

2011-12-05T12:46:00.000-06:00

Almost daily we read in the press expressions from every part of the country indicating that what people are seeking most strenuously today is some sort of firm foundation upon which to build for the future. Probably each one of us feels hopeful that the days to come are destined to be better days than any we have previously known. However, we are undoubtedly each wondering how a sane basis of economy in government and business is to be finally reached, and once attained, how it is to be preserved.

There is no doubt that for many years we have been following false ideals to an alarming extent: The man or woman doomed to a quiet, wholesome, steady and dutiful mode of living was to be pitied; one who took thought for the morrow, or questioned where all the hectic living was leading, was regarded as oldfashioned and a kill-joy into the bargain. But fortunately for all of us many of these ideas and valuations appear to be changing. People generally seem to be reaching out for a sense of soundness for themselves and for the country, to insure the long pull ahead. This is encouraging, for there is after all nothing which can quite compare with the firm satisfaction of knowing that one is doing his duty as best he sees it, and is keeping his conscience clear by wholesome living.

It appears evident that we as a people, without in the least decrying the value of sane recreation, are nevertheless becoming oldfashioned enough to wish to trade much of the get-rich-quick splendor, and night club glamour, for the ways of life which lead to a wholesome self-respect, a quiet mind, and the happy enjoyment of the simpler things of life. And if the depression which has been such a burden to most of us results in the reversal of the conditions which provoked it, how can we regret it too deeply if the final result is to bring us to a realization of the truly worth-while things in life.

Editorial from Needlecraft The Home Arts Magazine February 1935.

Amazing that they were thinking then what most of us are thinking now...

Site on Monsanto

2011-12-04T14:32:00.000-06:00

http://www.monsanto.no/index.php/en/

Singing lambs....

2011-12-03T15:39:00.001-06:00

http://www.brooksbrothers.com/aholidaymiracle/aholidaymiracle.tem

Ad for Brooks Brothers - too cute by half....

GMO eggplant found to be toxic

2011-12-03T14:27:00.002-06:00

http://www.monsanto.no/index.php/en/environment/gmo/gmo-news/173-gmo-eggplant-confirmed-to-be-toxic

Vitamin D

2011-12-02T08:16:00.000-06:00

A meta-analysis of 50 trials looking at mortality rates for “doctor recommended” synthetic vitamin D2 supplements versus natural vitamin D3 shows a six percent risk reduction among those who used D3, compared to a two percent increased risk among those who used D2

Research shows vitamin D3 is approximately 87 percent more potent in raising and maintaining vitamin D concentrations and produces 2- to 3-fold greater storage of vitamin D than does D2. D3 is also converted into its active form 500 percent faster

Optimizing your vitamin D levels may be one of the most important steps you can take in support of your long-term health. The ideal way to do this is by exposing large amounts of skin to sunlight or a safe tanning bed, but if you need to use an oral supplement, make sure you’re taking vitamin D3

The most important factor is your vitamin D serum level, which should ideally be between 50-70 ng/ml. When taking an oral vitamin D supplement, you should take enough to reach and maintain this therapeutic level. As a generic guideline, adults need to take about 8,000 IU’s a day to reach this level

Read entire article here: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/30/taking-the-right-type-of-vitamin-d.aspx?e_cid=20111130_DNL_art_1

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-12-02T05:36:00.001-06:00

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Hardrock, Coco and Joe

2011-12-01T17:10:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PvZZO_0qHM

Another oldy but goody! Used to see this every year on KDKA in Pittsburgh...

NIA blog post - 11/9/11

2011-12-01T08:10:00.000-06:00

ECB Preparing Italy Bailout, Massive Inflation Coming

Italy’s 10 year bond yields rose above 7% on Wednesday and economists from around the world are now proclaiming that these interest rates are unsustainable with Italy’s national debt now 120% of its GDP. NIA believes the ECB is currently working on their largest bailout in history where they will commit to purchasing over €1 trillion of Italian bonds and bonds of other eurozone countries that are at risk of becoming insolvent. Despite the signals currently being given by the ECB, they will not allow Italy to fail because it will cause a Great Depression throughout the European Union, which will lead to the destruction of the eurozone.

Economists today fail to realize that 10 year bond yields of 7% are normal for not just Italy, but the rest of the eurozone and the United States. If it wasn’t for the ECB holding their benchmark interest rate at artificially low levels for over a decade, Italy and other eurozone countries wouldn’t have the high levels of debt they do today and they would be able to withstand yields of 7% or higher. The ECB is entirely at fault for the European Debt Crisis and they are about to follow in the footsteps of the Federal Reserve by abandoning their objective of maintaining price stability and keeping inflation low.

German 10 year bond yields declined again today to 1.72% and the spread between Germany and Italy is at a new record of 553 basis points. Germany is benefiting from safe haven buying from investors selling Italian bonds and buying German bonds, but investors will soon realize that German bonds are no better than Italian bonds and the world will dump all Euro denominated bonds.

Bond investors currently expect very little inflation in the eurozone, as seen by Germany’s low bond yields. The sole reason for the large spread between German and Italian bonds is Italy’s greater risk of default. However, a default by Italy would lead to the failure of Germany’s largest banks. Germany knows this but they don’t want to raise inflation expectations by making the world think that the ECB will be monetizing Italy’s debt. Therefore, Germany is now telling Italy to request aid from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) if needed.

Unfortunately, the EFSF doesn’t have the financial resources to rescue a country the size of Italy. Last week, the EFSF had to cancel a €3 billion auction of 10 year bonds due to a lack of investor interest. On Monday, the EFSF finally had the bond sale, but was met with subdued interest that barely covered the €3 billion in bonds being offered. So far the EFSF has only raised a total of €13 billion through bond sales, but has received €440 billion in guarantees from eurozone countries. If Italy becomes a recipient of EFSF funding, the EFSF will lose one of their largest contributors.

The EFSF is looking to leverage up its €440 billion in funding to over €1 trillion. The European Debt Crisis was caused by too much leverage and debt. It is complete insanity to believe that the EFSF is going to solve the debt crisis when it too is getting deeply into debt and planning to use huge leverage to increase their funds available for bailouts.

There was recently a report that a proposal was made at the G20 summit last week in Cannes for Germany and other leading countries in the eurozone to pool together their foreign currency reserves including their gold reserves to back the EFSF, which would allow it to easily leverage up their funds and raise more money through bond sales. As soon as this report surfaced, Germany immediately announced to the world that they will not be using their gold reserves to boost the EFSF and that their gold reserves are “untouchable”.

Germany’s unwillingness to use their gold reserves clearly shows that gold is the real safe haven where individuals should store their savings if they want to keep their purchasing power. Investors buying German 10 year bonds with a yield of only 1.72% should ask themselves why Germany is willing to fund the EFSF with Euros but not their gold. Maybe investors will come to their senses and change their mind about buying any Euro denominated bonds.

For the past decade there has been a bond bubble in both Europe and the U.S. where we have seen bond yields at artificially low levels for an unprecedented amount of time. This has caused modern economists to believe that low bond yields are the new normal. When central banks interfere in the free market by manipulating interest rates to artificially low levels, it creates asset bubbles that eventually burst. When asset bubbles burst, the free market takes over and attempts to correct the damage by raising interest rates to extremely high levels, which encourages consumers to reduce their consumption and increase their savings.

NIA believes that over the next five years, 10 year bond yields will reach double digit territory throughout the eurozone and the U.S. The free market wants countries like Greece and Italy to default on their debts and restructure them, which is why their bond yields are rising so high. Although Greece and Italy have the highest debt levels in the eurozone as a percentage of GDP, the whole entire eurozone borrowed too much and has too much debt. Germany and France both know that the failure of Italy will spread to them when German and French banks with Italian debt begin to fail. The EFSF will soon be exposed as a failure itself when it is unable to attract the funding necessary to rescue eurozone countries in need of bailouts. Unless the ECB decides to bailout eurozone countries through the EFSF by buying their bonds, the ECB will be forced to directly monetize debts across the entire eurozone.

Even though the destruction of the eurozone seems imminent, NIA believes it will take time to play out. Most likely, in about two or three months from now the media will begin focusing its attention on the U.S. crisis. When the spotlight is off Italy, their bond yields will temporarily dip back down, but U.S. bond yields will skyrocket. The U.S. national debt is very close to breaking 100% of GDP, which will likely be a catalyst for investors to begin dumping their U.S. dollar denominated assets. The U.S. has unfunded liabilities many times the size of Italy’s unfunded liabilities. Including unfunded liabilities, while Italy’s total debts are approximately 300% of their GDP, the U.S. has total debts equaling about 600% of its GDP.

Austerity cuts are becoming very common in the eurozone and although citizens still protest them, it has become politically acceptable for politicians in Italy and other eurozone countries to support them. Italy’s cash budget deficit as a percentage of GDP is currently only 3.9% and their national debt has been barely growing. The U.S. cash budget deficit as a percentage of GDP is currently 8.7%, more than double Italy, and the U.S. national debt has been growing at a record rate. Americans are used to stimulus over austerity. Members of Congress are too afraid to make necessary spending cuts. The U.S. has a budget deficit from entitlement programs and interest payments on the debt alone.

The supercommittee created by Congress to recommend $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions by November 23rd, so far hasn’t agreed to make reductions to any entitlement programs. The Democrats and Republicans have so far only reached consensus on changing the way the government calculates inflation for Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) increases. They want to calculate inflation by using a new chain weighted CPI, which will understate inflation even more than the current CPI they use.

Based on how the current CPI has been miscalculating inflation for decades, Social Security recipients today should be receiving approximately triple their current payments. All Americans should be outraged that the government is planning to once again reduce the deficit through deception, when they should be eliminating wasteful government agencies like the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, and the Department of Homeland Security, while bringing our troops home from the middle east and immediately cutting overseas military spending in half so that we have the resources to better protect ourselves at home.

The extremely high levels of debt in both Europe and the U.S. need to be liquidated as soon as possible. If Italy can’t sustain itself with 7% interest rates, which is only average on a historical basis, think about how large the crisis will be in the U.S. when interest rates here reach 15% as price inflation spirals out of control. Less than three months ago Italy’s interest rates were below 5%. Fundamentally, Italy’s economy is the same as it was three months ago, but perceptions in the marketplace change quickly. Today, U.S. treasuries are still perceived to be a safe haven, but this will change 180 degrees in no time.

Just like how the U.S. government understates inflation when calculating COLA adjustments, they also understate inflation when calculating GDP growth. The U.S. recently reported 3Q GDP growth of 1.62% on a year-over-year basis, which used a price deflator of only 2.52%. If they used the real rate of price inflation, they would have reported negative GDP growth. The Federal Reserve just lowered forecasts for U.S. GDP growth in 2012 to between 2.5% and 2.9%, down from a forecast in June of between 3.3% and 3.7%. In order to ensure that we even meet the Fed’s new projections, the Fed will soon be launching QE3. NIA predicts that the Fed will use fears of contagion from the European Debt Crisis as their excuse for launching QE3 in the near-future. Combined with massive inflation from Europe as the ECB monetizes debt to save banks with exposure to Italian bonds, gold will soon skyrocket to new all time highs with silver likely beginning to once again outperform gold.

http://inflation.us/

NIA New Email - 11/30/11

2011-11-30T08:06:00.000-06:00

The Federal Reserve along with the European Central Bank, Bank of Canada, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, and the Swiss National Bank are all lowering their U.S. dollar swap rates by 50 basis points! This is going to create massive worldwide monetary inflation and flood the world with U.S. dollars!

The Fed claims that these coordinated actions will enhance their capacity to provide liquidity support to the global financial system in order to "ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster economic activity."

It was also announced this morning that arrangements have been made to establish temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements so that liquidity can be provided in each jurisdiction in any of their currencies should market conditions so warrant. Although the Fed said, "there is no need to offer liquidity in non-domestic currencies other than the U.S. dollar" at this time, the stage is now set to create massive worldwide monetary inflation in other fiat currencies as well. The whole entire global fiat currency system could soon come to an end. The only solution to the upcoming hyperinflationary crisis will be a global digital gold backed currency.

NIA believes China will soon announce that they have dramatically increased their gold holdings to backup their rapidly growing foreign currency reserves, which have now reached $3.2 trillion. China's central bank just announced this morning that they are lowering their reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points to 21% from 21.5%!

NIA considers precious metal stocks to be extremely undervalued at this time and we believe they are set to outperform gains in gold and silver in the months ahead. We believe silver stocks have the most upside potential and that silver exploration stocks, although the most risky, could be the biggest silver gainers.

An artist you should get to know...

2011-11-29T18:45:00.000-06:00

I found this artist on Ebay. Boy I love her stuff. Here are two of her watercolors that I just had to have. She is located out of Memphis and her ebay name is laniehase.

Pretty arent they?

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday - Late sorry!

2011-11-27T18:34:00.000-06:00

You dont have to have the My Memories software to use this!

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created!

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V3 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Frosty the Snowman

2011-11-25T17:12:00.006-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU3SKtJbNu8

Enjoy!

Too Funny!

2011-11-23T22:22:00.000-06:00

This is Penny. Penny isnt supposed to be in with the chickens. I went to let the cats in and she didnt come in so I called to her and I hear this little mournful meow coming from the chicken area...I dont know how she did it but she was inside the fence. I think maybe she was chasing a sparrow and jumped over. I made her wait until I got the camera LOL. Of course the chicks thought I was bringing them something to eat. Poor little Penny. Those birds are bigger than she is ;) Still makes me laugh looking at it.

No cats or chickens were harmed in the making of this pic. My cats actually get along with the chickens.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T18:21:00.000-06:00

To all my readers, friends and family! You really cant be too thankful for all you have. It is a wonderful life ;)

How to clean and store garlic bulbs

2011-11-22T22:12:00.000-06:00

This is a bowl of garlic that I harvested from my garden. Garlic is very easy to grow. I took some pics on how I clean it up to store it. You dont even have to wash the bulbs off either. First take a bulb and

cut off the root end. Then

start taking off the outer layers of skin. Some of the outer layers will have mold. See in the pic? Just take as many layers off that have the mold on them and

look at that! It looks just like store bought but much better tasting.

Here are some walking onions I also harvested. Boy are they strong. Dont need much in any recipe...

And here is all of them cleaned and stored in a mesh bag. I saved the bag from some onions I had gotten at the store. Now just put your cleaned garlic in a dry, cool, dark place. I store mine in my pantry. This is my whole harvest and should last us until next year. Any bulbs that we havent eaten get replanted next year.

How to make tartar sauce

2011-11-21T22:09:00.000-06:00

I make my own tarter sauce with my homemade relish and some mayo. Just combine a couple of tablespoons of relish with a couple of tablespoons of mayo in a small dish.

And presto, you have tartar sauce. So good on fish.

Vacation pics

2011-11-20T22:01:00.000-06:00

This was on the way to the Lodge factory up in the mountains. There is a look out with a wide vista of the land below.

Hubby checking out the underside of the look out.

We went to the top of the look out and you had to climb the stairs to get there. It was drizzling and I was in my sandals and there was graffiti painted on some of the stairs and on the top of the big rock...Hubby thought I was going to fall. It was much easier getting up than going down. No handrails....and the drop was straight down...

But boy it was sure pretty even on a wet day. We had to wait until we came back from the Lodge factory to stop as it was also very foggy up that high in the early morning but not so much when we came back. Doggone it if I cant go to a jail museum or a train museum I'm at least going to crawl up some wet rocks to look over a valley :)

Where to find a spring in your area...

2011-11-20T15:14:00.000-06:00

http://www.findaspring.com/

Want to know who owns the organic brand you use...

2011-11-19T15:09:00.000-06:00

Well here you go:

http://www.cornucopia.org/who-owns-organic/

Good Morning!

2011-11-19T14:38:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu6--WBPBHo

Hard to believe Debbie Reynolds was pregnant when she did this number...

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-11-18T05:53:00.001-06:00

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V2 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

A picture is worth a thousand words...

2011-11-17T21:47:00.001-06:00

What is this pic of you ask...well this is charcoal from our little grill. Seems hubby decided to dump the coals which he thought were out on the patio...hmm. They werent out and the above pic is what you get when you throw a pail full of water on still hot coals. He wont do that one again LOL.

2011-11-16T22:01:00.000-06:00

Nice pic of the fence huh?

Tikki caught rolling in the freshly seeded plot...

Lucy looking for trouble

and she might have found it. Tikki getting close (sorry couldnt flip the pic).

And closer...

Martha looking lovely as usual.

I see you!

Lettie RIP died today 11/16/11.

Lucy...

And another of Lettie

Lookin' good...

Lettie died today and we buried her in the backyard before the rains came. She had been sick for some time but had been feeling better the last couple of days but this morning we found her outside the coop. She is the first chicken we have lost. We will miss her. She was a good layer.

Things have been happening....

2011-11-16T21:47:00.000-06:00

Sorry I've been not posting as much as I should. About four weeks ago hubby and I went for a mini vacation (overnight). When you have chickens it's hard to get away for longer than that. We went to the Lodge outlet store http://lodgemfg.com/ in South Pittsburg, TN. It's right by the factory and although they dont give tours, they do have a video running in the store that you can watch. They have seconds in the back with little nicks and such that dont affect the cookability (is that a word?) of the cast iron. They have a lot of other kitchen items and camping items too.

We stayed overnight in a Motel which was really nice and clean. And if you thought going to the Lodge outlet store wasnt exciting enough, we were going to go to the Jail Museum but didnt cause they were closed...darn. We even went to the Railroad Museum but guess what? They werent open either. Guess Mondays arent a good day. Anyway we had a nice two days out and on the way home stopped at Swiss Pantry and had a really good sandwich.

We got home and the cats were all sleeping but the chickens were happy to see us. Well maybe it was the spinach they were happy to see...chickens remember food LOL...

The Molly man sleeping in my clothes basket. See what he does? He moves all the clean clothes out of it. Cant get too upset with him. After all he is over 20 years old and has a hard time finding a comfortable place to sleep...

More coming up!

Denise

Singin' in the Rain....

2011-11-16T14:31:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ZYhVpdXbQ

Even though we're in a tornado watch you gotta love Gene Kelly. When's the last time you jumped into a mud puddle on purpose?

Snow, snow, snow

2011-11-16T14:24:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AToEzwZSfk

Using outside content in My Memories Suite tutorial

2011-11-14T17:04:00.002-06:00

http://vimeo.com/31468394

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V2 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Suzy Snowflake

2011-11-13T17:06:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYDdm3fZiM

It just wouldnt be winter without this little film. I even dressed up like Suzy Snowflake one halloween. Dont remember it cause I was only 3-4 years old but I still love to see this one. Hope you enjoy it too. Used to play it every winter on KDKA in Pittsburgh.

Veteran's Day!

2011-11-11T08:43:00.002-06:00

Italian economy...

2011-11-11T07:57:00.002-06:00

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/11/10/as-italian-drama-persists-fears-of-credit-crunch-spread-to-smal/

I think this is more than just a "hiccup" as stated in the article.

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-11-11T05:50:00.003-06:00

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created!

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V2 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

NIA New Email - 11/9/11

2011-11-10T14:51:00.002-06:00

ECB Preparing Italy Bailout, Massive Inflation Coming

Italy's 10 year bond yields rose above 7% on Wednesday and economists from around the world are now proclaiming that these interest rates are unsustainable with Italy's national debt now 120% of its GDP. NIA believes the ECB is currently working on their largest bailout in history where they will commit to purchasing over €1 trillion of Italian bonds and bonds of other eurozone countries that are at risk of becoming insolvent. Despite the signals currently being given by the ECB, they will not allow Italy to fail because it will cause a Great Depression throughout the European Union, which will lead to the destruction of the eurozone.

Economists today fail to realize that 10 year bond yields of 7% are normal for not just Italy, but the rest of the eurozone and the United States. If it wasn't for the ECB holding their benchmark interest rate at artificially low levels for over a decade, Italy and other eurozone countries wouldn't have the high levels of debt they do today and they would be able to withstand yields of 7% or higher. The ECB is entirely at fault for the European Debt Crisis and they are about to follow in the footsteps of the Federal Reserve by abandoning their objective of maintaining price stability and keeping inflation low.

Bond investors currently expect very little inflation in the eurozone, as seen by Germany's low bond yields. The sole reason for the large spread between German and Italian bonds is Italy's greater risk of default. However, a default by Italy would lead to the failure of Germany's largest banks. Germany knows this but they don't want to raise inflation expectations by making the world think that the ECB will be monetizing Italy's debt. Therefore, Germany is now telling Italy to request aid from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) if needed.

Unfortunately, the EFSF doesn't have the financial resources to rescue a country the size of Italy. Last week, the EFSF had to cancel a €3 billion auction of 10 year bonds due to a lack of investor interest. On Monday, the EFSF finally had the bond sale, but was met with subdued interest that barely covered the €3 billion in bonds being offered. So far the EFSF has only raised a total of €13 billion through bond sales, but has received €440 billion in guarantees from eurozone countries. If Italy becomes a recipient of EFSF funding, the EFSF will lose one of their largest contributors.

Germany's unwillingness to use their gold reserves clearly shows that gold is the real safe haven where individuals should store their savings if they want to keep their purchasing power. Investors buying German 10 year bonds with a yield of only 1.72% should ask themselves why Germany is willing to fund the EFSF with Euros but not their gold. Maybe investors will come to their senses and change their mind about buying any Euro denominated bonds.

Even though the destruction of the eurozone seems imminent, NIA believes it will take time to play out. Most likely, in about two or three months from now the media will begin focusing its attention on the U.S. crisis. When the spotlight is off Italy, their bond yields will temporarily dip back down, but U.S. bond yields will skyrocket. The U.S. national debt is very close to breaking 100% of GDP, which will likely be a catalyst for investors to begin dumping their U.S. dollar denominated assets. The U.S. has unfunded liabilities many times the size of Italy's unfunded liabilities. Including unfunded liabilities, while Italy's total debts are approximately 300% of their GDP, the U.S. has total debts equaling about 600% of its GDP.

Austerity cuts are becoming very common in the eurozone and although citizens still protest them, it has become politically acceptable for politicians in Italy and other eurozone countries to support them. Italy's cash budget deficit as a percentage of GDP is currently only 3.9% and their national debt has been barely growing. The U.S. cash budget deficit as a percentage of GDP is currently 8.7%, more than double Italy, and the U.S. national debt has been growing at a record rate. Americans are used to stimulus over austerity. Members of Congress are too afraid to make necessary spending cuts. The U.S. has a budget deficit from entitlement programs and interest payments on the debt alone.

The supercommittee created by Congress to recommend $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions by November 23rd, so far hasn't agreed to make reductions to any entitlement programs. The Democrats and Republicans have so far only reached consensus on changing the way the government calculates inflation for Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) increases. They want to calculate inflation by using a new chain weighted CPI, which will understate inflation even more than the current CPI they use.

The extremely high levels of debt in both Europe and the U.S. need to be liquidated as soon as possible. If Italy can't sustain itself with 7% interest rates, which is only average on a historical basis, think about how large the crisis will be in the U.S. when interest rates here reach 15% as price inflation spirals out of control. Less than three months ago Italy's interest rates were below 5%. Fundamentally, Italy's economy is the same as it was three months ago, but perceptions in the marketplace change quickly. Today, U.S. treasuries are still perceived to be a safe haven, but this will change 180 degrees in no time.

Just like how the U.S. government understates inflation when calculating COLA adjustments, they also understate inflation when calculating GDP growth. The U.S. recently reported 3Q GDP growth of 1.62% on a year-over-year basis, which used a price deflator of only 2.52%. If they used the real rate of price inflation, they would have reported negative GDP growth. The Federal Reserve just lowered forecasts for U.S. GDP growth in 2012 to between 2.5% and 2.9%, down from a forecast in June of between 3.3% and 3.7%. In order to ensure that we even meet the Fed's new projections, the Fed will soon be launching QE3. NIA predicts that the Fed will use fears of contagion from the European Debt Crisis as their excuse for launching QE3 in the near-future. Combined with massive inflation from Europe as the ECB monetizes debt to save banks with exposure to Italian bonds, gold will soon skyrocket to new all time highs with silver likely beginning to once again outperform gold.

If you would like your friends and family members to be among the first to see NIA's 'Occupy Wall Street the Documentary' coming soon, please tell them to become a member of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

NIA New Email - 11/07/11

2011-11-10T14:45:00.002-06:00

European Debt Crisis Facts and Truth

The mainstream media as of late has been focusing its total attention on the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and seemingly has forgotten that we have a much larger debt crisis in the U.S. that hasn't gone away and is only getting worse. Many global economists have been saying in recent weeks that if the European Central Bank (ECB) only went the way of the Federal Reserve, eurozone nations wouldn't be in the desperate situation they are in today. NIA believes that the ECB has already been acting just like the Fed, just not to the same extent.

Mario Draghi just took over as the new President of the ECB and as his first act in office, Draghi lowered the ECB's benchmark interest rate by 0.25% to 1.25%. The ECB's interest rate of 1.25%, while not quite as low as the Fed Funds Rate of 0% to 0.25%, is still very inflationary. The ECB's primary stated objective has always been maintaining price stability and containing inflation. However, with all of the rioting and civil unrest that took place in Greece in response to major austerity cuts, public officials in countries like Spain have been putting pressure on the ECB to abandon their objective to maintain price stability and instead focus on helping fuel growth.

In May of 2010, eurozone countries along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to rescue Greece from default by giving them a €110 billion loan. Of the €110 billion loan, eurozone countries agreed to contribute €80 billion of the funds, including Germany providing €29.3 billion and France providing €22 billion. The IMF agreed to contribute the remaining €30 billion.

Unfortunately for Greece, their bond yields have been skyrocketing and they have been finding it difficult to raise money on their own. Greece is now in need of additional rescue funds. In July of 2011, after Greece's two year bond yield rose as high as 40.46%, European leaders negotiated in Brussels a deal to provide Greece with a new bailout of €109 billion in rescue loans. After this deal was announced, Greece's two year bond yield declined to 25.66% in just two days.

In August, Greece's two year bond yield started to surge once again, surpassing July's high of 40.46%. In mid-September, Moody's downgraded the credit ratings for the eight largest Greek banks, sending the two year bond yield to a new high in September of 84.52%. In early October 2011, Greece raised their 2011 budget deficit estimate as a percentage of GDP to 8.5%, well short of the 7.6% target that Greece promised to meet as a condition of the bailout package agreed to in July.

In late-October, European leaders abandoned their proposal from July and announced a new shocking bailout plan for Greece. Not only did they agree to give Greece new rescue funding of €130 billion, but in an additional part of the agreement, banks holding Greek bonds have agreed to accept a 50% haircut on the money they are owed by Greece. Greece Prime Minister George Papandreou, instead of accepting the deal on his own, announced that he was going to hold a referendum so that Greek citizens can vote on the deal.

Papandreou's proposed referendum infuriated leaders of Germany and France, who expressed their frustrations with Papandreou and threatened to pull the plug on the bailout deal. Greek bond investors once again panicked, sending the two year yield all the way up to a new high of 107.26%. Papandreou later announced that he was canceling the referendum, but still faced calls from the opposition to resign. Papandreou survived a confidence vote this weekend but is planning to soon step down to allow the creation of a new national unity government.

NIA believes that the best decision for Greece and its citizens would be to turn down the new bailout deal and declare bankruptcy. Greece would be best off leaving the eurozone and creating their own fiat currency. The bailouts are doing nothing to help the citizens of Greece, they are only helping the German and French banks that recklessly purchased Greek bonds at artificially low interest rates. If Greece declares bankruptcy, the country won't self-destruct. All of their infrastructure will still exist, but their debts will be eliminated and Greek citizens will enjoy a higher standard of living.

The only good news to come out of the European debt crisis so far is that the banks are willing to accept a 50% haircut on their Greek bonds. If the U.S. is going to survive its debt crisis without creating hyperinflation, it will need to convince its creditors to take an even larger haircut on U.S. treasuries. Unfortunately for Americans, the U.S. will never admit that it can't pay back its debts. The U.S. debt crisis is even worse than Greece, but the U.S. has a printing press that it will use to pay back China, Japan, and our other creditors, which will steal the remaining purchasing power of American citizens who don't have their savings in gold and silver.

The uncertainties and fears surrounding Greece are now spreading to Italy, which saw its 10 year bond yield skyrocket in recent days to a new Euro-era high today of 6.66%. Greece's liquidity problems began last year after their 10 year bond yield rose above 6%. Many people believe that Italy is becoming the next Greece and is now at risk of defaulting on its debt.

Even though Italy's debt to GDP ratio is 120%, the second highest out of eurozone countries behind Greece, Italy's budget deficit as a percentage of GDP is among the lowest in the eurozone at only 3.9%. It is insane for Italy's 10 year bond yield to be 6.66% with the U.S. 10 year bond at only 2.04%. The U.S. has no chance of ever balancing its budget and will likely see its deficit explode to new highs in the years ahead. Italy, on the other hand, could realistically balance its budget if it implements reform measures to cut spending.

NIA believes that Italy's 10 year bond yield is near a short-term peak because everybody has become negative on Italy all at once. It will likely decline back below 6% in the near future as Italy implements more austerity cuts. America's strategy to grow its way out of its own debt crisis will only create massive price inflation without any real economic growth. Before long, U.S. bond yields will surge faster than anybody has ever seen in history. In a few months, the media will forget about Italy and focus their attention on the U.S.

Although a 10 year bond yield for Italy above 6% may be a new high for the Euro-era, Italy's 10 year bond yield averaged well above 6% for many decades before the eurozone was created. Italy made a major mistake by joining the eurozone. Before joining the eurozone, Italy was able to survive even when their 10 year yield reached a high of 13.75% in 1995. After joining the eurozone, Italy was able to borrow money at interest rates that were manipulated to artificially low levels by the ECB. If Italy's bond yields were still being set by the free market this past decade, they would have no where near the level of debt they do today.

Many investors selling Italian bonds are now buying German bonds, because Germany has a low debt to GDP ratio and one of the world's largest manufacturing bases. German 10 year bond yields are now 1.78%, a record 488 basis points below Italy. This huge spread will not last and NIA believes investors are making a mistake by buying German debt over Italian debt. There is no chance of Italy being allowed to default on its debt. If Italy ever gets to the very edge of insolvency, Germany and France will allow the ECB to monetize Italy's debt. If Italy went bankrupt, many of the largest banks in Germany and France would fail. The ECB will not allow this to happen.

As bad as things are in Europe today, with the media making it seem like Euro Armageddon is fast approaching, you would expect the Euro to currently be collapsing on a daily basis. The Euro, which ended last year at $1.34, has risen so far in 2011 to $1.38. This shows that even with all of the inflation being created by the ECB, it is nothing compared to the inflation being created by the Fed. The U.S. is lucky for the European debt crisis because it is taking attention away from our problems and allowing the Fed to secretly prepare QE3 while our bond yields are still near record lows.

17 uses for baking soda

2011-11-10T14:41:00.000-06:00

http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/leafy-greens/17-uses-for-baking-soda.aspx?newsletter=1&utm_content=NHG+eNews+11.10.11&utm_campaign=NH_ENEWS&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

Random check points

2011-11-09T18:51:00.000-06:00

http://www.infowars.com/tennessee-joins-tsa-in-creating-random-check-points/

This kinda makes me nervous....

Are you eating irradiated foods?

2011-11-05T09:06:00.000-05:00

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/05/why-are-your-spices--seasonings-exposed-to-half-a-billion-chest-xrays-worth-of-radiation.aspx?e_cid=20111105_DNL_art_3

Check out the article to see the symbol they use for irradiated foods...

American Christmas email ---

2011-11-04T17:25:00.002-05:00

As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high
gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods --
Merchandise that has been produced at the expense of American labor. This
year will be different. This year Americans will give the gift of genuine
concern for other Americans. There is no longer an excuse that, at gift
giving time, nothing can be found that is produced by American hands. Yes
there is!

It's time to think outside the box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in
a shirt box, wrapped in Chinese produced wrapping paper?
Everyone -- yes EVERYONE gets their hair cut. How about gift certificates
from your local American hair salon or barber?

Gym membership? It's appropriate for all ages who are thinking about some
health improvement.

Who wouldn't appreciate getting their car detailed? Small, American owned
detail shops and car washes would love to sell you a gift certificate or a
book of gift certificates.

Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plonking down
the Benjamines on a Chinese made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift
receiver would like his driveway sealed, or lawn mowed for the summer, or
driveway plowed all winter, or games at the local golf course.

There are a bazillion owner-run restaurants -- all offering gift
certificates. And, if your intended isn't the fancy eatery sort, what about
a half dozen breakfasts at the local breakfast joint. Remember, folks this
isn't about big National chains -- this is about supporting your home town
Americans with their financial lives on the line to keep their doors open.

How many people couldn't use an oil change for their car, truck or
motorcycle, done at a shop run by the American working guy?

Thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE the services of a
local cleaning lady for a day.

My computer could use a tune-up, and I KNOW I can find some young guy who is
struggling to get his repair business up and running.

OK, you were looking for something more personal. Local crafts people spin
their own wool and knit them into scarves. They make jewelry, and pottery
and beautiful wooden boxes.

Plan your holiday outings at local, owner operated restaurants and leave
your server a nice tip. And, how about going out to see a play or ballet at
your hometown theatre.

Musicians need love too, so find a venue showcasing local bands.

Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand Chinese
lights for the house? When you buy a five dollar string of light, about
fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to
burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip.

You see, Christmas is no longer about draining American pockets so that
China can build another glittering city. Christmas is now about caring about
US, encouraging American small businesses to keep plugging away to follow
their dreams. And, when we care about other Americans, we care about our
communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine.

THIS is the new American Christmas tradition.

Forward this to everyone on your mailing list -- post it to discussion
groups -- throw up a post on Craigslist in the Rants and Raves section in
your city -- send it to the editor of your local paper and radio stations,
and TV news departments. This is a revolution of caring about each other,
and isn't that what Christmas is about?

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-11-04T06:57:00.001-05:00

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V2 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Mary Jane's Tip of the Week

2011-10-28T11:02:00.000-05:00

http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/recipe-project/tip-20111024.asp

Thought all of you would enjoy the above link. This week it is a home made cleaner. There is a side bar on this page that lists all of the tips of the week. Enjoy!

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-10-28T10:57:00.000-05:00

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V2 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Blog you need to check out!

2011-10-23T17:52:00.000-05:00

http://www.radicallynatural.com/2011/10/salatin-on-value-of-real-food.html

I have to agree with her on this. It just irritates me when I see people say that they have to stop at fast food restaurants because they cant afford to buy real food in the supermarket... It is really easy to fix meals at home and it's not cheaper to buy fast food. Food tastes better when you make it yourself and if you think that the produce is more expensive in the supermarket then grow your own veggies. It's not hard. Anyone can do it. You dont have a backyard just grow some veggies in a pot on your back porch or front porch. You would be surprised how it tastes. Supermarket veggies taste like cardboard. I guarantee if you taste a real tomato that you've raised yourself or bought from a local farmer you will be amazed at how it tastes. As for the ones who say they have no time to cook, I really dont think you have time to be in the doctor's office either. You get more vitamins from food you cook yourself. That fast food that you love guess what, it doesnt spoil. Take a burger and let it hang out a while. You'll see. It doesnt mold. You're putting that in your body. Gross! The cheese isnt real cheese. And if you grow your own food you wont have to worry about salmonella. It just makes sense to grow your own.

This is just my opinion, any one else have anything to say about this? Just leave a comment - glad to hear from all of you out there! ;)

Natural Home and Garden GMO info...

2011-10-23T05:18:00.001-05:00

What You Need to Know About Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

10/13/2011 2:36:46 PM

by Susan Melgren, Web Editor

Tags: genetically modified organisms, GMOs, Non-GMO Month, Non-GMO Project, Nature's Way

October is National Non-GMO Month. Last October marked the first Non-GMO Month, celebrated by almost 600 natural food retailers across the United States. This year, to help spread awareness about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and to help promote Non-GMO month, Nature’s Path, maker of organic cereals, bars and waffles, created an infographic to help explain the basics of GMOs.

What are GMOs?
Genetically Modified Organisms are experimental plants or animals that have been genetically engineered in a laboratory with DNA from other plants, animals, bacteria and viruses.
Why GMOs?
There are two main reasons:
1. Seed producers modify their seed to make it resistant to their brand of herbicide.
2. Seed producers modify plants to contain built-in pesticides.
GMO ingredients are found in 80 percent of packaged foods in the U.S. GMO crops are also added to processed foods such as oils, sweeteners and soy proteins, and in things like amino acids, aspartame, vitamin C, flavorings (natural and artificial), maltodextrins and more.
Genetically Modified Crops Grown in the U.S.
Percentage of each crop that is GMO (2010):
Soy: 93 percent
Cotton: 93 percent
Corn: 86 percent
Canola: 90 percent
Labeling and Bans
NO: The United States and Canada do not require labeling of genetically engineered foods.
YES: In 40 countries, including Australia, Japan and all European Union nations there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production of GMOs because they are not considered proven safe.
Health
GMOs have not been proven safe. The long-term consequences of GMOs on our health and environment have not been adequately investigated.
Avoiding GE Ingredients
Organic Food: The USDA Certification states that “the use of genetically engineered organisms and their products are prohibited at any stage in organic production, processing or handling.”
Non-GMO Project Verified Products
Products bearing this seal have undergone independent testing to ensure they have been made according to best practices for GE avoidance.

NIA New Email - 10/20/11

2011-10-22T05:15:00.000-05:00

NIA Exposes Occupy Wall Street Truth

The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining tons of momentum and is likely to continue picking up steam in the weeks and months ahead. Americans are angry but they aren't exactly sure what they are angry about and they don't know for sure who they should be angry with. It is easy for them to point their fingers at Wall Street, but Wall Street is in no way responsible for the financial crisis our country has today.

NIA believes that Occupy Wall Street protesters need to be educated to the facts and truth about the U.S. economy and what is truly causing our economic problems. NIA is getting ready to release 'Occupy Wall Street the Documentary', which NIA has produced so that Occupy Wall Street protesters can understand exactly what changes need to be made in America if our country is going to survive the Hyperinflationary Great Depression that will soon hit America and steal all remaining purchasing power that the U.S. dollar still has left.

NIA first saw signs of the protests taking place today back in November of 2009 when we were in Beverly Hills filming our documentary 'The Dollar Bubble'. We were alerted by NIA members to a major protest that was breaking out at the University of California. We went to see it and witnessed a very violent protest of students upset about a 32% increase in college tuition for the next semester.

The UCLA protest showed us just how angry Americans can become about inflation. Because we were forecasting massive food inflation to start breaking out in 2010, we made the prediction that we would see large "End the Fed" protests beginning in 2010. We did see massive food inflation in late 2010, accelerating greatly throughout 2011. However, we overestimated the ability for average Americans to quickly point the finger at the Federal Reserve. We also didn't expect many citizens of foreign countries, especially Arab nations, to begin protesting before Americans did.

About one year after the violent UCLA tuition inflation protest that we witnessed, a larger even more violent tuition inflation protest broke out in London. When Prince Charles' security detail made the mistake of driving him and the Duchess of Cornwall past the area where the protest was taking place, in a vehicle that cost more than what each protester will earn in the next ten years combined, about 50 of the protesters broke through the motorcycle police protecting the Prince chanting "Off with their heads!", beating on the side of their Rolls-Royce with sticks and bottles. Luckily, the car was armored and only suffered minor damages, keeping Prince Charles and the Duchess safe. A Jaguar behind it containing police officers was destroyed to the extent that the officers ended up using car doors from the Jaguar as shields, which still couldn't prevent six of them from being seriously injured.

The food inflation protests that NIA had been expecting for over a year, started to break out in late January of this year in Algeria, with citizens chanting "Bring Us Sugar!" Eight citizens were killed during the protests in Algeria. This quickly spread to a massive outbreak of civil unrest in neighboring Tunisia, where thousands protested food inflation and high unemployment. The Tunisian revolution led to the ousting of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, but came at the expense of 79 protesters being killed.

This rapidly spread to the riots in Egypt. Before the Egyptian protests even began, six Egyptian citizens committed suicide in front of government buildings by dousing themselves with fuel and lighting themselves on fire. All together, 846 protesters were killed across different parts of Egypt and over 6,000 more were injured. The Egyptian protesters were eventually successful at getting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign from office.

NIA saw the resignation of Mubarak as a farce from the beginning. We couldn't understand how thousands of angry Egyptians who were calling for Mubarak's head would within seconds of his resignation announcement erupt into cheers like Egypt had just won the World Cup. The resignation of one man would not eliminate the corruption in Egypt's government and fix their inflation and jobs crisis. Most of Mubarak's cronies are still in power. Mubarak agreed to just take one for the team. For the protesters to declare victory and go home after one man announced his resignation shows that most of the protesters were sheep who were just copying their friends without having a real grasp on the issues affecting the economy in Egypt. What if Mubarak came back on television and said "I was just kidding" or "I just changed my mind and decided not to resign", would the protesters have come back?

After Egypt, the protests spread to Jordan and Yemen. Once again, food inflation was the main root cause of the protests, something that the mainstream media in the U.S. largely ignored when reporting on the protests. The American mainstream media was not allowed to discuss inflation when corresponding about the global inflation protests, because it didn't want the world to connect the dots and realize that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is more responsible for the global food inflation crisis and protests than the leader of any foreign country.

Because of the U.S. dollar's status as the world's reserve currency, the majority of the world's most important agricultural and energy commodities are traded in U.S. dollars. When Bernanke prints trillions of dollars out of thin air in an attempt to reinflate the Real Estate bubble and lower unemployment in the U.S., it has a direct affect on what foreigners pay for all goods and services around the world. With China printing massive amounts of Yuan to keep it pegged to the U.S. dollar and the Bank of Japan intervening to keep the Yen from appreciating too rapidly against the U.S. dollar, countries like Australia are now quick to blame any short-term dip in manufacturing, agriculture production, or energy commodity exports on their currency being too strong against not just the U.S. dollar but the Yen, Yuan, and most other fiat currencies.

In just the last two weeks, the Australian dollar has risen 9.5% against the Yen, 8.5% against the U.S. dollar, and 8.6% against the Yuan. It should be no surprise to NIA members that attempts to copy "Occupy Wall Street" in Australia have been dismal. After 1,000 protesters initially showed up in Sydney on Saturday for their own "Occupy Wall Street" protest that was supposed to continue "indefinitely", less than 50 protesters remained on Monday as most people returned to work. Australia doesn't have an inflation or unemployment crisis because their central bank did the right thing and raised interest rates to 4.75% at a time when everybody else was lowering them. This is why since the inception of NIA we have always suggested Australia as our top choice for Americans to move to if they want to get out of harms way before hyperinflation hits the U.S. We hope that the Reserve Bank of Australia will continue to do the right thing and ignore calls from all around the world for them to lower rates.

The mainstream media is currently once again focused on the financial crisis in Europe, which is temporarily distracting from the debt crisis that really matters in the U.S. On Halloween, the official U.S. national debt for the first time ever will surpass U.S. GDP. At any time now without any warning or any new catalyst, we could see a huge onslaught of dollar dumping that causes the economic equivalent of 9/11.

There is no hope of preventing hyperinflation in America when President Obama is unwilling to consider any measure that would cut government spending in a meaningful way. In August when the Budget Control Act of 2011 was enacted by Congress, the mainstream media was widely reporting that the "supercommittee" formed by the act would be in charge of finding $1.5 trillion in spending cuts by Thanksgiving. In reality, this "supercommittee" that Obama was so heavily relying on to pay for his proposals in his "jobs bill", is not responsible for finding $1.5 trillion in spending cuts but only a $1.5 trillion reduction in the budget deficit over 10 years.

Obama promises to veto any proposals that make large spending cuts, especially to entitlement programs. Many Democrats are calling for a new 5% "surcharge" on Americans earning over $1 million per year. Within a few years, an annual income of $1 million will only have the purchasing power of what a $100,000 salary has today. This proposed new tax would discourage small business owners from expanding and hiring new employees. It would destroy any remaining hope that is left for a real economic recovery and encourage most American entrepreneurs to leave the country permanently.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) yesterday released their consumer price index (CPI) data for the month of September. The BLS reported year-over-year CPI growth of 3.87%, the highest rate of U.S. price inflation in three years. The official government reported year-over-year U.S. price inflation rate of 3.87% for September was up from 3.77% in August, 3.63% in July, 3.56% in June, 3.57% in May, 3.16% in April, 2.68% in March, 2.11% in February, 1.63% in January, 1.5% in December, and 1.1% in November. Year-over-year increases in the CPI have risen by 252% over the last ten months.

Even year-over-year core-CPI growth rose for the 11th straight month to 1.97% in September, an increase of 223% from year-over-year growth of 0.61% in November. NIA estimates the real rate of U.S. price inflation to currently be 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. It was just announced that American retirees receiving Social Security will receive a 3.6% COLA increase, the first increase since 2009. Social Security is the main reason the U.S. government reports artificially low CPI numbers. By giving retired Americans only a 3.6% Social Security payment increase when real price inflation is now 8.5%, Congress gets to spend the difference in the ways they see fit.

With inflation spiraling out of control, the government knows that they soon won't be able to afford even the artificially low COLA increases they are making today. Congress is now exploring ways to keep future COLA increases as low as possible. Many clueless Keynesian economists in Washington are now arguing that the inflation measure the government uses to calculate COLA increases, the CPI-W, is overestimating true increases in the cost of living. These economists claim that Americans can shift between items and if veal prices are rising too much, they can eat chicken or if lobster prices are rising too much, they can eat shrimp. They propose that the government switches to a version of CPI that accounts for these changes, called "chain weighted" CPI.

All Americans know that their cost to maintain the same standard of living has increased by a lot more than 3.6% over the past year. The CPI-W being used today already artificially understates inflation so much that current Social Security recipients deserve to be receiving triple their current payments. If "chain weighted" CPI was being used today, American seniors would only receive a 3% COLA increase next year.

If the U.S. government did the right thing and invested all FICA tax receipts into gold, it would be able to give Social Security recipients an increase next year of around 8.5% like they should be entitled to. American seniors are being hurt most by inflation because health care has consistently had the highest rate of inflation out of all goods and services. A COLA increase of 3.6% is nothing when NIA estimates the real rate of health care inflation to currently be 15% or 76.5% higher than the overall real rate of price inflation. To artificially lower COLA increases even more would mean utter devastation to the U.S. economy as seniors would need to reenter the workforce and Americans with jobs would need to stop spending money on goods and services in order to help their parents. This would mean even less jobs for the youth in America and less support for them from their parents.

If you would like your friends and family members to be the first to see 'Occupy Wall Street the Documentary' coming soon, simply tell them to become a member of NIA for free today at: http://inflation.us

Scrapbooking Freebie Friday

2011-10-21T00:17:00.000-05:00

Freebie 2 Page:
http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created!

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V2 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

My to do list...;)

2011-10-16T18:53:00.000-05:00

And another one!

2011-10-14T18:45:00.000-05:00

Can you tell I'm from PA? LOL

Too Funny!

2011-10-14T18:38:00.002-05:00

Freebie Fridays for Scrapbooking

2011-10-14T00:28:00.001-05:00

Freebie 1 Page:
http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

Every Friday I'll be posting a free scrapbooking kit you can use. Just click the above link and download it to your computer. Play around with it and come back here and show and tell...Cant wait to see what you have created!

All my readers/friends get $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V2 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

Fluoride

2011-10-12T10:18:00.000-05:00

Here is an article I found very interesting:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/11/dr-bill-osmunson-on-fluoride.aspx?e_cid=20111011_DNL_art_1

Here is an excerpt:

China, in contrast, does NOT allow water fluoridation because it's too toxic and causes damage, according to their studies. Instead, the waste product from their phosphate fertilizer industry is shipped to the United States, where we add it to our water supply!

This is a very important point: the fluoride added to your water is NOT pharmaceutical grade. It's a toxic industrial waste product, which is also contaminated with lead, arsenic, radionucleotides, aluminum and other industrial contaminants.

About 75 percent of Americans get fluoridated water, and just over 65 percent have artificially fluoridated water with hydrofluorosilicic acid; the toxic waste product from phosphate industries. Meanwhile, naturally occurring fluoride is found in many water supplies, especially in volcanic regions and areas with harder water.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not distinguish between these two types of fluoride, but they should.

Naturally occurring fluoride in hard water areas often has a calcium fluoride. Calcium and fluoride bond very well and are not absorbed well by your body. Hydrofluorosilicic acid, on the other hand, dissolves easier and is absorbed by your body at a greater rate.

Natural calcium fluoride is about 1,000 times less toxic than hydrofluorosilicic acid or sodium fluoride, and this is because your body can't absorb nearly as much. (Note: Sodium fluoride is pharmaceutical grade fluoride, which is used in most studies, but NOT the kind added to water supplies.)

My thoughts: We quit using fluoride toothpaste years ago and we now are using a Berkey filter system even to cook our food in. You got to admit the government is mainly for the government not for the people any more. Where we lived when I was growing up we didnt have fluoride in the water but when we moved our water system did have fluoride. Seems funny but my brother and I never did have problems with our teeth until years later. We didnt even go to the dentist until I was 12 years old. Dentist couldnt believe that we went that long without getting our teeth looked at but we didnt have any problems so why go? We brushed our teeth with toothpaste with fluoride in it and drank the water with fluoride in it and after 10 years had cavities...hmmm correlation? Now there are all sorts of chemicals in our drinking water even if you use well water your water is contaminated with all the chemicals people put into their bodies and when it flushes out where to you suppose it goes? Then it not only gets in our ground water but is also showing up in our food supply. Farmers use city water as well. Fluoride is in the water that the animals drink and vegetables get some too. Just something to think about.

Besides the water with floride in it tastes icky and that's my scientific opinion ;)

Talk to ya later!

Denise

And the winner is...

2011-10-06T09:08:00.001-05:00

I generated a number from random.org but couldnt figure out how to get the little picture block up here on my blog. Anyway it's #3: Kristina from http://pioneerwomanatheart.blogspot.com/!

Congrats Kristina!

Kristina: just email me and I will get you the code so you can download your My Memories scrapbooking software. If I dont hear from you in a week, I will pick a new winner.

UPDATE: Kristina has gotten her code to download the software. Thanks everyone who entered! That was fun. I'll have to do it again with something different.

Last day for giveaway signup!

2011-10-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

I'll be picking the winner early tomorrow so sign up now if you're interested.

Sign up here:
http://nittinfool.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-first-giveaway.html

Food Matters Movie available until 10/8/11 for free viewing

2011-10-05T09:38:00.002-05:00

http://products.mercola.com/food-matters-dvd/?e_cid=20111005_DNL_FDML_spotlight&source=nl

Monsanto article....

2011-10-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/05/has-any-company-ever-harmed-the-planet-more-than-this.aspx

Dr. Mercola talks about feminine hygiene products

2011-10-05T09:24:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YqF2J3NIPs0

Laugh for your Tuesday morning...

2011-10-04T09:26:00.000-05:00

Had to share this one from one of my knitting groups on Yahoo...

Adapted from a quilters' newsletter in North Carolina...author unknown.

A recent study has indicated that yarns give off certain pheromones that
hypnotize women and cause them to purchase ungodly amounts of yarn. When
stored in large quantities in enclosed spaces, the pheromones in the yarn
causes memory loss and induce the gathering syndrome, similar to the one
squirrels have before the onset of winter.

Sound tests have also revealed that these yarns emit a very high-pitched
sound heard only by a select few, known as stitchers. When played backward,
the sounds are heard as chants...'Buy me! Knit me!' Furthermore, pheromones
seem to cause a pathological need to secret the yarn purchases away when
one takes them home and blend them into the existing stash. When asked by a
significant other if the yarn is new, the reply is, "oh, I've had it for a
while!"

In order to overcome the so-called feeding frenzy effect that these yarns
cause, one must wear a face mask when entering a storage facility, and use
ear plugs to avoid being pulled into their grip. It is also beneficial to
enter these storage facilities without the presence of cash or credit cards.

Sad to say, the addictive qualities of this compulsive behavior are
cumulative, and are ameliorated only by the purchase of more and more and more
yarns.

No cure is known at this time.

Splenda - not so good for you

2011-09-28T22:32:00.000-05:00

In recent tests, water samples from US water treatment plants discovered that the artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda) is a widespread contaminant in both source water and treated water

Sucralose is a persistent contaminant as it is not broken down by the chemical water treatment process

Previous research has shown that sucralose can destroy up to 50 percent of beneficial intestinal bacteria (probiotics), which are essential for general health and a strong immune system

Sucralose is chemically closer to DDT and Agent Orange than it is to sugar

Splenda is known to cause a multitude of detrimental side effects in certain people, including allergic reactions and neurological dysfunction

My first giveaway!!!!

2011-09-28T09:52:00.002-05:00

I was contacted a week and a half ago by Liz from www.Mymemories.com. She wanted to know if I would be interested in having a giveaway of their digital scrapbooking software. They gave me a copy to review and now I get to give away a copy to you! This giveaway is open to anyone anywhere because you will download your copy from their site if you win. (please go to their site to see how much space you need on your computer for this software) It works for both Microsoft PC's and Mac's.

Now I must admit I'm not into scrapbooking but I thought what the heck...I always am up for free anything :) so I downloaded my My Memories Suite V2 from their site. It didnt take long to download and when I opened it up I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to navigate. You can not only make a scrapbook using pics on your computer but there are other options as well, calendars, videos, etc. I decided to try to make just one scrapbook page since I was strapped for time. I opened a template up and dragged and dropped my pics. It also has an option for embellishments and I tried that out too. Very easy and here is the page I made. See what you think:

OK, OK I did say I was strapped for time...next time I will make a page with all human pics LOL. But you get the idea. The software has many, many templates to play with and when you sign up for emails from the company, the emails have free templates you can download! Very cool. I can see Christmas gifts coming from this one :)

So here is your chance to win this free software.

There is a chance for you to get up to three entries in the giveaway by just doing the following:

1. Become a follower of my blog or let me know you already are a follower

2. Go to the My Memories site and tell me what your favorite templates are and sign up for their free newsletter filled with free templates, tips and tricks on using their software.

3. Blog about the giveaway. Let me know your blog address so I can check it out.

I will pick a winner on October 5th so enter as soon as you can cause that's only a week!

Mymemories.com also said that I could offer all my readers/friends $10 off if you decide to purchase My Memories Suite V2 (http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software) and $10 coupon for any purchases from My Memories store.

Cut and paste this code at checkout to get your discount STMMMS94069

* I will get a referral fee everytime someone uses the code above. Just thought you should know.

I'll be back...

2011-09-25T22:58:00.001-05:00

with my first giveaway!

Keep Monsanto's sweet corn off your plate

2011-09-20T16:45:00.002-05:00

Subject: Keep Monsanto's sweet corn off your plate

This fall, Monsanto, the corporation who produces roughly 90% of the world's genetically modified seeds, will try to bring their new, GMO sweet corn to a grocery store aisle or farmer's market near you.

Unlike Monsanto's other GMO crops -- which are primarily fed to animals -- this sweet corn is intended for direct human consumption.

This is the first time Monsanto has engineered a vegetable that could be served straight to your dinner table. And if this unlabeled, and potentially toxic crop succeeds, Monsanto is sure to bring us even more.

As an activist and consumer, we are in a powerful position to pressure leading U.S. grocery stores to reject Monsanto's new GMO corn.

I just signed a petition telling major grocery stores around the country that I don't want Monsanto's sweet corn on the shelves. Will you join me and help stop this unsafe food?

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/gmo_corn/?r_by=-4506352-nxzEzYx&rc=paste2

And something funny to watch

2011-09-16T09:35:00.000-05:00

After all the serious stuff I've been posting lately thought you might enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uuqXXT7VYo&feature=player_embedded

California vaccine law

2011-09-16T09:32:00.000-05:00

This video is about a law they are trying to pass in California to vaccinate children without their parents knowledge or consent. If it can happen there, other states will follow.

I dont have children but this still makes me mad...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m4HkwCA7ft4

The town of allopath - cute video with important message

2011-09-11T12:04:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=97N18BTyj4w

NIA New Email - 9/9/11

2011-09-10T13:17:00.000-05:00

The Truth About Obama's Jobs Bill

The Truth About Obama's Jobs Bill

On Thursday evening, President Obama gave a speech to a joint session of Congress discussing the jobs situation here in America. The purpose of Obama's speech was to convince the American public and their elected representatives in Washington to support Obama's new $447 billion 'American Jobs Act', which has a cost that is 49% larger than the $300 billion act most people were expecting. NIA believes this bill will do nothing to reduce unemployment in America and that it is nothing but another stimulus bill in disguise that will add to our budget deficits.

Obama's bill proposes a $4,000 per employee tax credit for businesses that hire somebody who was previously unemployed for 6 months or more, at a cost of $8 billion. At the same time, Obama wants to extend emergency unemployment compensation (EUC), which allows Americans who have exhausted standard unemployment benefits that last for 26 weeks to continue receiving them for between 20 and 53 additional weeks. EUC benefits are set to expire at the end of 2011 and continuing them through the end of 2012 will cost U.S. taxpayers $49 billion.

It is totally absurd for Obama to give employers money to attempt to hire people he is simultaneously paying to stay out of work. What makes this even more outrageous is that employers have an incentive not to hire recently laid off workers, when only those unemployed for 6 months or more will bring them a $4,000 check. If this bill is passed it will make the unemployment situation in America far worse than it already is.

NIA has heard from members who own farms and have positions on their farms available, but can't find anybody interested in working for them and filling the available positions. Every time they hire somebody to work on their farm, the worker purposely does a poor job and tries to get fired. Their sole purpose of getting a job is to convince their local unemployment agency that they are trying to find employment so that they can keep receiving unemployment benefits, when in reality they are trying to take advantage of the system.

Obama is right that any future recovery will be driven by our businesses and our workers, but if Washington wants to make a positive difference the only step it should take to improve our people's lives, is get out of their lives. It is impossible for any piece of legislation including Obama's 'American Jobs Act', to improve the employment situation here in America. Obama needs to remove any government programs already in place that interfere with the free market. NIA believes that if the U.S. eliminated all unemployment benefits and also got rid of the minimum wage, it would cause the unemployment rate to return to healthy levels.

U.S. employees earning up to $106,800 annually currently pay a 4.2% payroll tax that is scheduled to revert back to 6.2% in 2012. Obama not only doesn't want employee payroll taxes to raise back up to the historical level of 6.2%, which went into effect in 1990, but he wants to further reduce them to 3.1% for 2012. The annual cost of this employee payroll tax reduction is estimated to be $175 billion. In an attempt to help small businesses, Obama also wants to cut employer side payroll taxes in half from 6.2% to 3.1% on the first $5 million of payroll, while eliminating employer side payroll taxes for new hires. The annual cost of this employer side payroll tax reduction is estimated to be $65 billion.

NIA believes all payroll taxes should be eliminated. Americans who make payroll tax payments today are paying for other Americans to receive entitlement programs that they will never receive. Social Security and Medicare are already on the verge of insolvency. By the end of this decade, NIA believes Americans receiving Social Security checks will be receiving checks that don't have any purchasing power and aren't worth cashing. Americans would be much better off if they were able to use the money they currently spend on payroll taxes to accumulate physical silver instead. Only Americans with enough savings in physical gold and silver will be able to retire in the future.

Obama's bill also provides $35 billion in state and local government aid, $50 billion in infrastructure repairs, $10 billion for a national infrastructure bank, $30 billion for school modernization and repairs, and $15 billion in housing expenditures. Unfortunately, the jobs Obama's bill will create for construction workers, teachers, veterans, and the long-term unemployed, are only temporary jobs that will vanish after the bill expires, and the money printed to pay these workers will steal from the purchasing power of American workers who already have jobs today. There is no doubt about it that America's infrastructure is decaying and we need to build new roads and bridges, but this is something that we can't afford to do until we return to an economy that is based on production instead of consumption.

We need to return to a trade surplus and begin paying off our debt before we can afford to make investments into infrastructure. China can afford to build newer airports and faster railroads because they have a $254 billion trade surplus and $3.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves that they are better off spending on infrastructure improvements than keeping parked in U.S. dollars that will soon be worthless.

Obama says that everything in his bill will be paid for, but NIA wonders how? The government is claiming this isn't another stimulus bill and Obama didn't mention the word stimulus once during his speech. The truth is, NIA believes all of the measures in this bill will have to be paid for by borrowing and printing money, which will increase our budget deficit, expand the money supply, and lead to massive price inflation.

The jolt that Obama is trying to give to the economy he admits has stalled, is the same economy he tried to jolt with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which put the U.S. $787 billion deeper into debt. NIA said at the time this stimulus bill was passed that when it failed to produce the results the government said it would, instead of admitting that stimulating the economy failed and reversing course, they will say the stimulus didn't work because it wasn't big enough and attempt to pass further stimulus bills by making new false promises.

Obama is lying to the public just like Congress recently did in regards to its bill to raise the debt ceiling. Congress deceived Americans into believing that in return for raising the debt ceiling so that the government can continue operating as it is today, "spending cuts" would be made to lower future budget deficits. These so called "spending cuts" turned out to be minor reductions to very large spending increases, with even these minor reductions not beginning until early 2013. Government spending is set to rise every single year until the dollar doesn't have any purchasing power left.

Obama said in his speech last night that, "while corporate profits have come roaring back, smaller companies haven't." The reason this is true is only the largest banks and the companies they do business with have direct access to the Federal Reserve's cheap and easy money. If the Fed didn't bail out all of the banks on Wall Street that made risky leveraged up bets with other people's money for the sole purpose of paying their employees huge bonuses, smaller banks would have acquired their assets in bankruptcy court for pennies on the dollar and be prospering today. Instead, small banks that made sound decisions were punished for doing the right thing. The Fed has made it even more difficult than ever for them to compete with the large banks that should be out of business.

If the Fed and Treasury didn't bail out Wall Street, the world wouldn't have come to an end like former-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson conned everybody into believing. The truth is, we would be better off today because the bad assets would have been liquidated. The bad assets that caused the financial crisis of late-2008/early-2009 still exist today. The main difference between back then and now is, the size of the Fed's balance sheet has doubled to $2.862 trillion due to the toxic assets they purchased, and the world is now flooded with excess liquidity of U.S. dollars.

It is impossible for the U.S. not to feel the consequences of the money we squandered fighting wasteful wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and maintaining military bases all around the world. It is impossible for the U.S. not to feel the devastating effects of interest rates that have been left artificially low for way too long. When you have an artificial boom, that boom will eventually go bust and the more that is done to prop a phony economy up that is built on U.S. consumers spending money they don't have, the harder the economy will fall in terms of high unemployment, high inflation, and a total lack of purchasing power that will cause a permanent decline in the U.S. standard of living.

The fact that Obama felt the need to demand that Congress pass his bill 17 times in 1 speech, shows that nothing positive will come out of this bill for the average American citizen. The only people who will benefit from this bill are bankers on Wall Street who are in line to earn huge fees on the infrastructure deals that get funded by the new national infrastructure bank. While the official U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) unemployment rate in August was 9.1%, down from its peak in October of 2009 of 10.1%, the real rate of unemployment including both short and long-term discouraged workers is now 22.8%, up from 22% in October of 2009 and a new high since the Great Depression in 1933. By further impeding the free market, Obama's bill will further misallocate what little resources Americans still have left before hyperinflation arrives.

It is important to spread the word about NIA to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, if you want America to survive hyperinflation. Please tell everybody you know to become members of NIA for free immediately at: http://inflation.us

National Inflation Association | 96 Linwood Plaza #172 | Fort Lee, NJ 07024

Jobs plan

2011-09-09T00:51:00.000-05:00

How can you pay for something when you cut the taxes that actually pay for it? And how is this not going to raise the deficit? Apparently he doesnt do his own taxes or anything to do with math. Sorry if you are an Obama lover but politicians are politicians and even if you love him or hate him you have to admit he's still a politician and is just saying what we want to hear so he can get elected again. It's what they all do...

What they really need to do is to get rid of some of the regs they have for businesses so that they can actually make a little money by hiring Americans instead of going overseas, not all of them just some of them. I like how he said that dismantling the government couldnt be done. Government is too big, let the states decide how they want to run their own states. Our founding fathers did not want big government. They just came from the biggest government, England, and did not want to have a king. Guess we are trying to go back to that though.

FACT CHECK: Obama's jobs plan paid for? Seems not

By CALVIN WOODWARD - Associated Press,TOM RAUM - Associated Press | AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's promise Thursday that everything in his jobs plan will be paid for rests on highly iffy propositions.

It will only be paid for if a committee he can't control does his bidding, if Congress puts that into law and if leaders in the future — the ones who will feel the fiscal pinch of his proposals — don't roll it back.

Underscoring the gravity of the nation's high employment rate, Obama chose a joint session of Congress, normally reserved for a State of the Union speech, to lay out his proposals. But if the moment was extraordinary, the plan he presented was conventional Washington rhetoric in one respect: It employs sleight-of-hand accounting.

A look at some of Obama's claims and how they compare with the facts:

OBAMA: "Everything in this bill will be paid for. Everything."

THE FACTS: Obama did not spell out exactly how he would pay for the measures contained in his nearly $450 billion American Jobs Act but said he would send his proposed specifics in a week to the new congressional supercommittee charged with finding budget savings. White House aides suggested that new deficit spending in the near-term to try to promote job creation would be paid for in the future — the "out years," in legislative jargon — but they did not specify what would be cut or what revenues they would use.

Essentially, the jobs plan is an IOU from a president and lawmakers who may not even be in office down the road when the bills come due. Today's Congress cannot bind a later one for future spending. A future Congress could simply reverse it.

Currently, roughly all federal taxes and other revenues are consumed in spending on various federal benefit programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' benefits, food stamps, farm subsidies and other social-assistance programs and payments on the national debt. Pretty much everything else is done on credit with borrowed money.
So there is no guarantee that programs that clearly will increase annual deficits in the near term will be paid for in the long term.
___

OBAMA: "Everything in here is the kind of proposal that's been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, including many who sit here tonight."

THE FACTS: Obama's proposed cut in the Social Security payroll tax does seem likely to garner significant GOP support. But Obama proposes paying for the plan in part with tax increases that have already generated stiff Republican opposition.

For instance, Obama makes a pitch anew to end Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, which he has defined as couples earning over $250,000 a year or individuals earning over $200,000 a year. Republicans have adamantly blocked what they view as new taxes. As recently as last month, House Republicans refused to go along with any deal to raise the government's borrowing authority that included new revenues, or taxes.

___

OBAMA: "It will not add to the deficit."

THE FACTS: It's hard to see how the program would not raise the deficit over the next year or two because most of the envisioned spending cuts and tax increases are designed to come later rather than now, when they could jeopardize the fragile recovery. Deficits are calculated for individual years. The accumulation of years of deficit spending has produced a national debt headed toward $15 trillion. Perhaps Obama meant to say that, in the long run, his hoped-for programs would not further increase the national debt, not annual deficits.
___

OBAMA: "The American Jobs Act answers the urgent need to create jobs right away."

THE FACTS: Not all of the president's major proposals are likely to yield quick job growth if adopted. One is to set up a national infrastructure bank to raise private capital for roads, rail, bridges, airports and waterways. Even supporters of such a bank doubt it could have much impact on jobs in the next two years because it takes time to set up. The idea is likely to run into opposition from some Republicans who say such a bank would give the federal government too much power. They'd rather divide money among existing state infrastructure banks.
___

Associated Press writer Joan Lowy contributed to this report.

Ancestor diets

2011-09-08T15:19:00.000-05:00

Our ancestors ate nearly four times the amount of vegetables and fruits as we do today

In ancient times fruits were higher in antioxidant content because they were smaller, like blueberries, with more skin, which is where the antioxidants are located

The modern American diet has substituted cereal grains for fruits and vegetables, lowering antioxidant intake significantly

Interesting huh?