Monsanto Threats

Monsanto Threats.

FAMILY FARMERS AMPLIFY COMPLAINT AGAINST MONSANTO'S GMOs, REINFORCING THEIR ARGUMENTS WITH TWO DOZEN ADDITIONAL PLAINTIFFS: Monsanto's Failure to Provide Binding Legal Covenant to Protect Family Farmers Threatened by GMO Contamination Necessitates Amended Complaint.
NEW YORK - June 1, 2011 - New threats by Monsanto have led to the filing of an amended complaint by the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) in its suit on behalf of family farmers, seed businesses, and organic agricultural organizations challenging Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seed. Twenty-three new plaintiffs have joined with the original 60 in the amended complaint, bringing the total number represented in the case to 83. The plaintiffs in the suit, titled Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA), et al. v. Monsanto and pending in the Southern District of New York, now include 36 family farmer, food, agricultural research, food safety, and environmental organizations representing hundreds of thousands of members including several thousand certified organic, biodynamic, or otherwise non-transgenic family farmers.

“Our clients don’t want a fight with Monsanto, they just want to be protected from the threat they will be contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed and then be accused of patent infringement,” said PUBPAT Executive Director Daniel B. Ravicher. “We asked Monsanto to give our clients reassurance they wouldn’t do such a thing, and in response they chose instead to reiterate the same implicit threat to organic agriculture made in the past.”

Soon after the March filing of the lawsuit, Monsanto issued a statement saying they would not assert their patents against farmers who suffer “trace” amounts of transgenic contamination. In response, and in the hope the matter could be resolved out of court, PUBPAT attorneys wrote Monsanto’s attorneys asking the company to make its promise legally binding. Monsanto responded to PUBPAT’s request by hiring former solicitor general, Seth P. Waxman, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of WilmerHale, who rejected PUBPAT’s request and instead confirmed Monsanto may indeed make claims of patent infringement against organic farmers who become contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed. Copies of both letters are available as exhibits at the end of the amended complaint.

“Monsanto’s letter was an empty, indefensible, and self-evident evasion showing they are only interested in spinning propaganda without taking serious steps to resolve the problem created for organic and non-transgenic agriculture,” said one of the co-plaintiffs in the suit, Don Patterson of Virginia. “With the Monsanto letter signed by Waxman, the company rolled out their biggest legal cannon, but they fired off only fluffy wadding and smoke,” as he views it. “The letter shows Monsanto wanting to protect their freedom to threaten farmers with patent infringement suits,” he states; “Both the threats and the lawsuits are clearly important to their marketing strategy and business model.”

“The serious issues being engaged in this case require a constructive and socially-acceptable response from the defendant in the public interest,” adds Maine farmer Jim Gerritsen, President of OSGATA, the lead plaintiff in the suit. “In the absence of that, we reassert the essential importance of the arguments stated in March and reinforced now by the additional evidence of the Monsanto intransigence. Monsanto’s utter failure to act reasonably to address our concerns has only reaffirmed the need for our lawsuit.”

The amended Complaint elaborates a fear tangibly vexing many family farmers: “Monsanto continued in the statement to perversely characterize this suit as an ‘attack,’ when Plaintiffs seek no money from and no injunction against them. All Plaintiffs seek is peace of mind if they are ever contaminated by Monsanto’s transgenic seed, the company could never sue them for patent infringement. This is not an attack by the Plaintiffs and to characterize it that way only further evidences Monsanto’s aggressive and threatening attitude with respect to its patents. Thus, the statement made by Monsanto in response to this suit has only served to heighten Plaintiff’s fear that Monsanto will seek to enforce its patents against them should they ever be contaminated by Monsanto’s transgenic seed.”

In addition to supplementing the complaint with Monsanto’s most recent clarifying statement confirming its threat to the plaintiffs and GMO-free agriculture, the new group of 23 organizations, seed companies, farms and individual farmers includes fourteen organizations: Weston A. Price Foundation, Center for Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Rhode Island, Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Hampshire, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut, Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Manitoba Organic Alliance, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (Wisconsin), Midwest Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Florida Organic Growers, Peace River Organic Producers Association (Alberta and British Columbia) and Union Paysanne (Quebec); two seed companies: Seed We Need (Montana), Wild Garden Seed (Oregon); and seven farms or individual farmers: Common Good Farm, LLC (Nebraska), American Buffalo Company (Nebraska), Full Moon Farm, Inc. (Vermont), Radiance Dairy (Iowa), Brian L. Wickert (Wisconsin), Bruce Drinkman (Wisconsin), and Murray Bast (Ontario).

These plaintiffs join the 60 plaintiffs from the original filing of the lawsuit in March including twenty-two organizations: Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association; Organic Crop Improvement Association International, Inc. (OCIA); OCIA Research and Education, Inc.; The Cornucopia Institute; Demeter Association, Inc.; Navdanya International; Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association; Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts Chapter, Inc.; Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont; Rural Vermont; Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association; Southeast Iowa Organic Association; Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society; Mendocino Organic Network (California); Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance; Canadian Organic Growers; Family Farmer Seed Cooperative; Sustainable Living Systems (Montana); Global Organic Alliance; Food Democracy Now!; Family Farm Defenders, Inc.; Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund; twelve seed companies: FEDCO Seeds, Inc. (Maine); Adaptive Seeds, LLC (Oregon); Sow True Seed (North Carolina); Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (Virginia); Mumm's Sprouting Seeds (Saskatchewan); Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., LLC (Missouri); Comstock, Ferre & Co. LLC (Connecticut); Seedkeepers, LLC (California); Siskiyou Seeds (Oregon); Countryside Organics (Virginia); Cuatro Puertas (New Mexico); Interlake Forage Seeds, Ltd. (Manitoba); and, twenty-six farms and farmers: Alba Ranch (Kansas); Wild Plum Farm (Montana); Gratitude Gardens (Washington); Richard Everett Farm, LLC (Nebraska); Philadelphia Community Farm, Inc. (Wisconsin); Genesis Farm (New Jersey); Chispas Farms, LLC (New Mexico); Kirschenmann Family Farms, Inc. (North Dakota); Midheaven Farms (Minnesota); Koskan Farms (South Dakota); California Cloverleaf Farms; North Outback Farm (North Dakota); Taylor Farms, Inc. (Utah); Jardin del Alma (New Mexico); Ron Gargasz Organic Farms (Pennsylvania); Abundant Acres (Missouri); T & D Willey Farms (California); Quinella Ranch (Saskatchewan); Nature's Way Farm, Ltd. (Alberta); Levke and Peter Eggers Farm (Alberta); Frey Vineyards, Ltd. (California); Bryce Stephens (Kansas); Chuck Noble (South Dakota); LaRhea Pepper (Texas); Paul Romero (New Mexico); and, Donald Wright Patterson, Jr. (Virginia).

“The issues raised in the lawsuit are critical, not just to organic farmers and others who do not want to grow genetically-modified (transgenic) crops,” Gerritsen says, but “also to the safety of food and everyone who eats—and that includes everyone concerned about environmental protection and public health.” As Gerritsen sees the lawsuit, “This is not just a minor dispute between a few family farmers and a powerful corporation accustomed to getting its own way; it is a debate over who offers the best and most responsible way to feed the people of the world over the decades and centuries ahead.” Monsanto offers an expedient short-cut with enormous long-term risks and consequences for public health and environmental degradation, he says; “This, we intend to prove in court.”

“The USDA, the White House, and the Congress have evaded responsibility to protect the public from the potential and unstudied dangers of transgenic food, not even requiring careful, long-term, independent testing nor the clear GMO labeling long-demanded by the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens,” states Bryce Stephens, a Kansas wheat farmer, who is OSGATA’s vice-president. “President Obama said he wanted to see mandatory GMO labeling during his 2008 presidential campaign, but he has not provided it,” Stephens reminds us. “We need someone to act in the public’s defense if our officials will not,” he says, and that is part of the motivation for Stephens’s decision to join the case as an individual plaintiff alongside his participation in plaintiff organizations.

“When GMO crops were first given the green light to enter the market in 1992 by the Bush-Quayle administration, they were declared ‘Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS)’ based almost entirely on internal industry studies and industry-sponsored research done under controlling company contract,” Stephens states. “Given the serious potential long-term dangers and only minimally and briefly-studied risks, this was reprehensibly irresponsible, and the government has not shown any more prudence over the years since 1992,” Stephens charges. “With the long-term health consequences of GMO food yet to be understood and in the absence of objective studies, we have all been involuntarily co-opted into a giant biotech industry experiment,” he concludes; “Our citizens and the people of the world deserve better than that.”

FREE DONUTS

FREE DONUTS: At Krispy Kreme & Dunkin Donuts

Thought Memorial Day heralded the arrival of summer? What kind of freebie-lover are you!

The end of May means that National Donut Day is almost here. That’s right, it’ll soon be the first Friday in June, when donut shops large and small throw open their doors and start handing out those dough-y bits of goodness…for free!
The biggest players in the game are Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme, both of whom will once again be giving out free donuts this year. At Dunkin Donuts you’ll have to purchase a beverage to get the gratis goodie (bottled sodas don’t count) while at Krispy Kreme you’ll have your pick of donuts without any purchase. On the regional level Lamar’s will also be handing out free donut holes. But make sure to check in with your favorite local or regional donut outlet, too, as they may have their own giveaway planned.
Though it sounds like a totally made-up holiday, National Donut Day is actually legit. It was begun in Chicago in 1938 by The Salvation Army to honor women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I. So if you didn’t properly reflect on those who served our country on Memorial Day weekend, this is a chance to reflect on those women who served those who serve.
As with every dining deal, make sure you call ahead to check with your local restaurant before heading out. “At participating locations” means just that!

Memorial Day History

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

General John A. Logan Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [LC-B8172- 6403 DLC (b&w film neg.)]

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.
In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red That grows on fields where valor led, It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms.Michael and when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children's League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their "Buddy" Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.
Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country.
There are a few notable exceptions. Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing. In 1951, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of St. Louis began placing flags on the 150,000 graves at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery as an annual Good Turn, a practice that continues to this day. More recently, beginning in 1998, on the Saturday before the observed day for Memorial Day, the Boys Scouts and Girl Scouts place a candle at each of approximately 15,300 grave sites of soldiers buried at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park on Marye's Heights (the Luminaria Program). And in 2004, Washington D.C. held its first Memorial Day parade in over 60 years.
To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."
The Moment of Remembrance is a step in the right direction to returning the meaning back to the day. What is needed is a full return to the original day of observance. Set aside one day out of the year for the nation to get together to remember, reflect and honor those who have given their all in service to their country.
But what may be needed to return the solemn, and even sacred, spirit back to Memorial Day is for a return to its traditional day of observance. Many feel that when Congress made the day into a three-day weekend in with the National Holiday Act of 1971, it made it all the easier for people to be distracted from the spirit and meaning of the day. As the VFW stated in its 2002 Memorial Day address: "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."
On January 19, 1999 Senator Inouye introduced bill S 189 to the Senate which proposes to restore the traditional day of observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th instead of "the last Monday in May". On April 19, 1999 Representative Gibbons introduced the bill to the House (H.R. 1474). The bills were referred the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government Reform.

To date, there has been no further developments on the bill.

What we did on our days off...

We found a little track that a church had built for walking and biking and went there on a Monday to try it out.  It's 1/2 mile.  I walked twice around and DH went for a total of 5 miles on his bike.  This was the first time he was on the bike since he had a run in with that dog way back last year.

Here he is!

It was a nice day that day.  There are little signs up with bible scriptures on.

The following week we went to shoot our new guns.  If you notice there are only pics of DH.  I handed him the camera but he didnt take a picture of me shooting my new handgun...men.  This was the rifle and the following pic is the shotgun. 

He held the handgun wrong and ended up cutting his thumb on it.  I didnt have any problems LOL...We had to go to his former employer's farm to shoot.  If you noticed that is a feeding thing on the left in the last pic.  We found all but two shells afterwards but they werent in the feeding place so the cows will be OK....

Strange egg we got last month...

It was all crinkly...

compared to the others we got that same day.  It was actually a normal egg inside.  I thought it would be hard to crack but nope it wasnt...

Garden pics

This is Molly lounging in the grass.

My crazy Christmas cactus that actually bloomed in April

Lavender

I think this is a bougainvillea.  It sure was pretty in April and the first part of May. All the flowers are gone now though...

And we kind of forgot what this was, actually thought that it had died but no it came up this spring and it's a boysenberry plant.  We have two of them now.   Anybody have any recipes for boysenberries?

Mason the miracle dog

RIP Jeff Conaway...

OK you can stay...

I guess the hair will stay a little longer since the longer it is the better for the cancer kids...

Last week...

I pickled 3 quarts and 6 pints of pickled eggs...umm I think the girls either need to slow down on production or we need to eat a lot of eggs...and I mean a LOT of eggs.

OK you're finally driving me nuts...

I know I said that I wanted to see how long you would actually get but every time one of you falls out it feels like a spiderweb on my back, on my arm, well you get the idea.  Is there anyway you could just stay in and not fall out?  It's really hard to clean with you falling all over as well...I think I might have to ask you to cut your visit short. 

Thinking of cutting the hair,

Denise

Knitting patterns for your dogs and cats

knitted cat toys:

http://www.allfreeknitting.com/Knitting-for-Pets/Catnip-Bunnies/ml/1

http://www.allfreeknitting.com/Knitting-for-Pets/Bumble-Cat-Toy

And the cutest little dog socks for your dogs!

http://www.allfreeknitting.com/Knitting-for-Pets/paw-socks-pattern

NIA's new video released!!!

I just got done watching this video and I highly recommend it to everyone whether you have kids that are college age or not.  - Denise



We just released 'College Conspiracy' a day early so that NIA members can see the movie before we issue our press release tomorrow morning to not just the nationwide education news wire, but to thousands of college administrators and education journalists through two special education microlists.




Please watch 'College Conspiracy' immediately and spread the word to every single one of your friends, family members, and co-workers: http://inflation.us/videos.html





It is up to every single one of you to help make this movie a success by spreading the word to as many people as possible. Considering how our latest video 'The Day the Dollar Died' has now reached close to 2 million views in 6 months, we are very optimistic that we can get 'College Conspiracy' to be seen by an even larger audience.



We need to get millions of people to watch 'College Conspiracy' if we are going to expose what we believe is the largest scam in U.S. history! NIA is the most pro-education organization in the world, but the college bubble we have today is destroying the lives of millions of Americans who deserve to be receiving a much higher quality of education for only a fraction of the cost.





As you watch this documentary, we hope that you notice and appreciate the quality of work that we put into it. We hired one of the best Hollywood animators and a famous Hollywood narrator to help make this movie our most impressive and professional documentary of all time. It took us three months just to write the script, which used many of the ideas that were submitted to us by NIA members.



We would like to give our most sincere thank you to the thousands of NIA members who emailed us suggestions of topics to cover and expert guests to interview!





'College Conspiracy' is going to open up the minds of millions of students who have been brainwashed their entire lives by the propaganda in the mainstream media. We are a nation of sheep, where nobody thinks for themselves and everybody follows the same system. The system we have today turns everybody into debt slaves, while the Federal Reserve allows bankers on Wall Street to steal the wealth of middle-class Americans through inflation.





Now is the time for all young Americans to think outside of the box and become self-educated. Don't rely on others to provide jobs for you. Go out there and make a job yourself!





Watch 'College Conspiracy' right away at: http://inflation.us/videos.html



NIA's entire staff worked day and night for the past six months producing this movie. Now is your turn to help make a difference by spreading the word!

Free ECookbooks from Mr. Food!

http://www.mrfood.com/index.php/hct/Latest-Free-eCookbooks

Blogger outage

Soooo glad that my Thursday post posted because I really didnt want to have to type that all again...

National Inflation Association's new email

Colleges Deceiving Public with Myths and Hoaxes




The National Inflation Association's eagerly anticipated must see hour-long documentary being released on Sunday, May 15th, 'College Conspiracy', will expose college education as the largest scam in U.S. history. NIA's latest special video 'The Day the Dollar Died' has now surpassed 1,750,000 views in less than six months, averaging over 10,000 views per day. NIA considers 'College Conspiracy' to be its most important and informative economic video ever produced in history.



'College Conspiracy' will debunk many myths, including the belief that Americans with college degrees earn $1 million more in lifetime income compared to high school graduates without a college degree. The most important basic fact that most Americans don't understand about 4-year colleges is that most Americans spend 6 years attending them before graduating. With U.S. tuition inflation for private colleges averaging 5.15% over the past half a decade, assuming this same rate of tuition inflation continues, a college with tuition of $30,000 today will have tuition of $38,563 in the sixth year a student attends it. In 'College Conspiracy', NIA analyzes the total cost to attend college by factoring in not just rapidly rising tuition expenses, but also the interest payments on student loans, and the lost income that college students would have earned if they worked at an average entry-level job that doesn't require a college degree.



NIA's investigation has determined that the organizations that helped create and promote the $1 million in additional income myth, included General Equivalency Diploma (GED) recipients as being high school graduates. The truth is, GED recipients are not real high school graduates and they are being used to unfairly skew down the average income of high school graduates without a college degree. This has the effect of artificially inflating the amount of additional lifetime income that college graduates earn over high school graduates. 'College Conspiracy' will show the real numbers that never get discussed in the mainstream media.



The college-industrial complex has created not only myths, but outright hoaxes, in order to scam American students into becoming indentured servants for life. Three years ago when 15 new pharmacist schools were about to open in the U.S., the college cartel bribed economists to come out with phony research reports showing that the U.S. was experiencing a huge shortage of pharmacists. The reports said that 150,000 new pharmacists would be needed in the U.S. by 2020 due to the aging babyboomer population and a huge boom in 24-hour pharmacies being built nationwide. Today, NIA is receiving reports of pharmacies on the east coast receiving 300 applications for each new pharmacist job opening.



As NIA will show in 'College Conspiracy', the value of a college degree today is close to zero, with some degrees being more worthless than others. One of our many expert guests in 'College Conspiracy' is Gerald Celente, editor of The Trends Journal at http://www.trendsresearch.com. According to Mr. Celente, colleges are handing out "degrees in worthlessness" in social studies, philosophy, art history, women's studies, minority studies, foreign affairs, public administration, corporate management, and marketing. Instead of getting deeply into debt and wasting many years of your life to obtain a "degree in worthlessness", NIA believes more Americans should seek to become an apprentice under someone who is highly qualified and experienced in their field of interest.



All parts of the college education industry are saturated with corruption, yet students and their parents still fail to realize that college administrators no longer care about what is in the best interest of their students. One segment of the college education industry that is perhaps the most highly enriched with corruption is the textbook business. In a high tech world of Kindles and iPads, there is no reason for students to be spending $200 each on eight new textbooks each semester. The information should come free with the cost of tuition.



Twenty years ago, $200 was enough to buy all of the required textbooks for an entire year of college. If the free market was allowed to operate, there would be a vibrant market for used textbooks and $200 would still be enough to purchase a year's worth of textbooks. However, in what can be described in no other way than collusion, colleges today are accepting kickbacks from book publishers to force students to buy "custom" textbooks that are created for that specific college. Some of these custom textbooks include special codes inside that students need in order to do their homework online. Each semester, the book publishers release new slightly revised versions of each custom textbook. This makes old textbooks practically worthless and steals from the wealth of students.



We need to begin teaching our youth from a very early age that the key to having a successful career is not attending college, but is thinking outside of the box. Since it is now possible to acquire used college textbooks for practically nothing, instead of getting deeply into debt to attend college for a degree that is worthless because everybody else has one, students should acquire college textbooks in the field of their choice and begin reading them. Students who are motivated with a strong desire to build a successful career can self-educate themselves. Most college professors failed to make a living in the field that they teach, which is why they became professors. Therefore, students are not missing out on anything by not having a professor there to teach them the same information they can learn on their own.



High schools in America have become nothing other than infomercials for higher education. All across the country, high schools have been eliminating shop, home economics, and art classes. Any type of class that teaches students how to produce something real and tangible is apparently not good enough to be a part of high school curriculums anymore. NIA believes high schools went in the completely wrong direction. Instead of eliminating classes that teach very important lifelong skills, high schools in the U.S. should be adding classes that teach the basics regarding plumbing; electrical work; sewing; computer, television, and cell phone repair; and construction. Students who gain these basic skills will be best positioned to perform valuable services during hyperinflation that can be exchanged for goods or other services.



Not only do high schools waste students' time by teaching them courses they will never need to have knowledge about in the real world, but colleges force students to take courses that have nothing to do with their major. There is absolutely no rational reason for a student majoring in electrical engineering to be required to take classes in history, humanity, sociology, and economics. It is because of these worthless courses that it takes some students six years to graduate college and learn what they could have learned in just one year of self-education. Instead of getting deeply into debt for five wasted years, self-educated students can be working at an entry-level job during those five years where they accumulate valuable work place experience.



Although many Americans are spoiled nowadays and consider entry-level jobs to be beneath them, NIA believes Americans need to realize that with or without a college degree, they should be happy, grateful, and appreciative to have any job in today's economy. The fact of the matter is, 60% of college graduates since 1992 are now employed in positions that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) considers to be "low skilled". Meaning, for the majority of college graduates, they didn't need their college degree to get the job that they have today.



NIA's President Gerard Adams is in regular contact with the CEOs of over one hundred large multi-million dollar corporations and only about a dozen of them are hiring at this time. Of the dozen or so companies that are hiring, 100% of them are choosing who to hire based entirely on their experience and passion for the work that they do. None of them care one iota about whether or not the applicant has a college degree. Shockingly, several CEOs recently told Mr. Adams that in today's world, those who didn't attend college are actually more likely to stand out from the crowd.



Please tell all of your family members and friends to become members of NIA for free immediately at http://inflation.us so that they along with you can be among the first to see 'College Conspiracy'.

Survival Without Electricity

When you lose electricity for whatever reason for a long period of time, the first thing you try to do is turn on the lights when it gets dark.  Click, click, no lights right?  You need some sort of light source.  Oil lamps are great and keeping extra oil is a wonderful idea.  Also you need matches or a lighter.  Matches are your best bet cause lighters run out.  Candles are another great idea.  Hopefully you have plenty of them.  Although I would suggest that you not light up a bunch of the scented ones especially if they are different scents.  Like Grandma said it will smell like a French Whorehouse.  Always wondered how she knew what one smelled like...:)  Also if you have those solar lights you use outdoors to line your walk, bring them in at night.  These would be especially good for people with allergies.  You might have to rig up something to hold them in of course.  I suggest a weighted vase with a hole that is just big enough to hold the light upright.  You (men) can always duct tape them to the wall if your wife isnt near...LOL.

Hopefully you dont have an all electric house like we do so you wont have to worry about cooking without the electric.  We were not prepared for this and had to run out and buy a little charcoal grill and charcoal.  You can find little charcoal grills for very little money.  You will need matches to start it though.  Our grill manufacturer did not recommend lighter fluid.  It can give your food a funny taste and singe off your eyebrows if you're not careful.  You can cook a lot of things on the grill so even if you are a vegetarian you can use a grill too.  We not only grilled meat but I also cut up apples put some butter on them put them in a piece of tinfoil and they came out soooo yummy.  We even did a pizza on the grill.  Just remember to leave off the top and not have flames shooting out ;)  You can even get a propane grill just remember in cases of natural disasters you might not be able to get your tank filled if the electric is out for more than a week.  I made sun tea everyday in a small glass bottle for myself. 

We still had water but of course our water heater is electric too so do everyone a favor and take a cold shower.  It's not going to kill you or you could do like one of my DH's co-workers and heat potfuls of water on the grill so his wife could take a hot bath.  Talk about henpecked!  DH asked me if I wanted him to ever do that and I said no I'll just pull up my big girl panties and deal with a cold shower.  DH did have a problem with shaving with cold water though.  We were surprised at how long the hot water stays hot in the tank.  We had warm showers for a couple of days after the electric went out.  Another thing we couldnt do was wash clothes in the washer so the kitchen sink became my washer.  I have a double bowled sink so I just filled up both sides with water, added soap to one side and had the other side for rinsing.  I have a clothesline outside so just hung up the clothes out there.  What gets your clothes clean is not the detergent itself, it is the action of the water flowing through the cloth and I usually wash our clothes in cold water anyway so this was not a big deal although my arms, wrists and hands were hurting the next day from all the wringing out of the clothes.  It is a good idea to start this early in the morning as it will take a while for the clothes to dry since manual wringing does not get as much water out as the washer can.

Washing dishes was another thing.  Just use your sink to clean them in.  If you dont have a double bowled sink find a big bowl or bucket to wash them in and another to rinse them in.  Having a couple of buckets handy is a good thing.  They are very useful and you will wonder how you ever survived without them after you have them.

With the electric off for more than a couple of days, you will have to think about your refridgerator and freezer.  Everything is going to thaw out.  If you cant eat everything, you need to throw things out.  Having a cooler with ice will save some things for you.  Make sure you get one that is high enough to store milk jugs or soda bottles upright.  Getting ice might be a problem as we found out.  There were runs on stores and gas stations.  Having some food in cans and jars is a good solution to this.  MRE's are good to have on hand if you dont have high blood pressure.  They are very high in sodium at least the ones I have seen and some people say that they arent that good compared to real food so that decision I leave up to you.  I'm going to be canning some soups and stews this fall so we can have them on hand in case of emergencies like the most recent one.  Another thing you might want to get is a manual can opener.  I know a lot of people have electric ones and that's fine but when you lose electric you will definitely need a manual one.  They come with bottle top openers and that sure is handy as well.  Spend a little money on a really good one as the poorly made ones can fall apart on you when you least expect it. 

We have an upright freezer and didnt open it for four days.  Things were cold but thawed so most everything we had to throw out.  You will need a place to store the garbage can cause it will stink.  Make sure if you have it outside to have something heavy on it so no critters can get inside.  One thing you dont want to have to do is pick all that up...ewww.  It might be a while before the garbage is picked up so make sure you bag everything, dont just throw it in the can.  It's messy for you but think of the garbagemen if nothing else.  You wouldnt want to pick it up if it fell out of your garbagecan unbagged, well they dont either and probably wont so you end up having to pick it up anyway. 

If you dont have water, that can be a major problem.  Some communities will get water buffalos in.  These are just big plastic tanks filled with water.  You take your own containers and fill from the tanks.  Usually there is a limit to how much you can get and they advise boiling the water before you drink it.  It is a very good idea to have some water stored for emergencies.  Be sure though to rotate it out and use up the old as it can taste bad after storing it for a while.  I suggest using glass jugs as plastic can leach chemicals into the water at high temps.  This is also true for any kind of sodas, the plastic leaches chemicals into the soda at high temps.  It wont taste the same and it is really bad for you. 

Getting groceries will be a problem if there is a natural disaster as well.  They wont have anything frozen, most of the produce will go bad and meat will be nonexistant.  And you really dont want to have to fight someone else for food do you?  When the tornados hit down here, people kind of went nuts especially about food and gas.  They were lining up for miles to get gas.  There were gas limits.  Some stations wouldnt allow you to fill gas cans.  They ran out of gas.  Gas prices went up.  Make sure if you know there is a storm coming to have enough gas in your vehicle BEFORE the storm.  And if there is a storm what in the world are you doing driving around anyway?  Stay home.  There is nothing open.  Dont be stupid and cause accidents...jeez.  Some people have no common sense.  Another investment would be a weather radio.  If you dont have one get one, have batteries for it.  Have a battery operated radio.  There will be no TV unless you have a generator and likely you will have that hooked up to more important things like your hot water heater, fridge and freezer and maybe a few lights.  If you think you will need a generator, buy one beforehand.  Again you will need gas or deisel to run it.  That might be a problem to get.  Another thing is have some flashlights.  Nothing worse than getting up in the morning and running into something that obviously moved during the night...yes things move I swear ;)  Dont use the generator INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.  They create carbon monoxide and will kill you or at least send you to the hospital if you are lucky.  You cant smell carbon monoxide.  The generator has to be outside or under cover away from your house.  They are noisy.  I still dont know how those people who ended up in the hospital down here could stand the noise and fuel smell but they did and put them in their house and ended up in the hospital lucky to be alive.  If it would have been winter, they would have died. 

If you live where there is snow and you lose electric, you're doomed, DOOMED!  Sorry couldnt resist that one.  Actually if it's winter and you lose your electric, make sure you have a heat source.  If the only thing you can do is build a fire outside do that.  Dont try to stay in your house without heat.  You can get hypothermia and die or at the very least lose your fingers and toes.  This is nothing to mess with believe me.  If you live in an all electric house and that's where you get your heat from get some other source of heat like a wood heater/stove.  You can cook on them and heat water on them as well.  Kerosene heaters are also good but and here's a bit BUT do make sure you have adequate ventilation.  Have multiple layers of clothes on, have lots of quilts and blankets.  If it gets way too cold, head your butt over to a shelter quick.  If you have animals, make sure they have lots of blankets.  If they are outside make sure they have a shelter with plenty of hay or straw to burrow in to.  Make sure you have plenty of food and water for them.  Having extra cat and dog food stored is good.  Just rotate it out and keep it stored in a container out of the bags.  Canned pet food, just rotate out.  If you have houseplants, kiss them goodbye.  Too cold and nothing will save them unless you wrap them up in blankets too.  That might help.  It's worth a try.  Freezing pipes are another problem, make sure to turn off the water.  That will help when the electric gets turned back on and at least will stop you from having a flood in your kitchen, bathroom or laundry room.  Another thing you have to think about if you dont have water is how to flush the toilets.  If you know beforehand, fill up your bathtub and have a bucket to fill to flush with.  If you dont know beforehand, you might have to go old school and use a bucket and take out back when full. 

Aint nothing like ending a post with poop LOL.  If I think of anything else, there will be another post on this.  If you think of anything that I missed or have a question, please leave a comment. 

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Not keeping you up to date...

And I am very sorry about that.  Let's see...We transplanted our little pepper, tomato and parsley seedlings into our garden on Saturday after DH rototilled it again.  I planted some more little flowers last week and they came up and are outside hardening off.  I also planted some more veggie seeds inside on Sunday and they are coming up now too.  DH got two grafted tomato plants in the mail on Friday and boy did they look straggly but after planting them in some bigger pots and watering they look pretty good now.  Turned the air conditioner on yesterday for the first time this year.  We are having a mini heat wave right now.  Yesterday it was in the high 80's and today it is in the 90's with a lot of humidity.  Then we are supposed to have a front come through and get some rain and then it will be cooler (in the 70's). 

We pulled a couple of onions and a garlic to see how they were doing.  DH chopped them up and used them in speghetti.  They tasted really good - not too hot or strong.  They arent ready to all harvest yet though.  The garlic didnt have any bulbs just one big one.  Looked like an onion.  I harvested some of the collard greens Monday and cooked them up.  Since I'm the only one who likes them I canned the remainder yesterday.  They really taste good.  Not mushy like the canned versions in the stores.  I only got three pints but that's enough for me.  DH doesnt know what he's missing. :)

I'll post some pics later.  And I'm going to try to post some tips for surviving without electricity.  I think that might be interesting to some of you.

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Craft Giveaway - check it out!!!

http://www.thediydish.com/2011/05/its-our-birthday-and-were-giving-you-the-presents/

You think maybe...

I finally got caught up reading all the blogs I follow.  Maybe I do follow too many...:)

Sign the petition to stop Round Up ready sugar beets and alfalfa

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/dr_hubers_warning?utm_source=newsletter_050511&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_050511_01#petition

They only need 50,000 signatures.  You will need to fill in your name, address, phone number. 

We're OK

The recent storms and tornados that hit Alabama last week only took our electricity away.  We were very lucky.  The F5 passed to our south.   Please keep praying for the victims of these storms.  They are I'm sure having a hard time dealing with everyday life now.  How do I know this?  Because in 1996 we lost our house in a flood.  It was just swept away.  We only had our vehicles and the clothes on our backs.  We were really humbled by the outpouring of love and support from our friends and family during that time.  You really find out who are your true friends, too.  The folks who lost everything during the tornados are just realizing that the only thing that they will really miss are the things that cannot be replaced, people that are gone, animals and pets that are too and pictures that cant be replaced.  The "things and stuff" that you had arent really all that important.  Things dont make you who you are either. 

We just got our electric back yesterday so this is the first time I was able to get on blogger to post.  Hope everything is wonderful for all my followers out there in blogland ;)  I really appreciate you!

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Newest NIA email

And the sad thing is that we dont "own" the Federal Reserve.  It's privately owned.  We cant even look at its books or find out exactly who owns it...weird huh...

Food and Energy Inflation is Not Transitory




Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday held his first press conference in history. The press conference took place shortly after the Fed announced its decision to leave the Fed Funds Rate at a record low of 0% to 0.25%, where it has been for an unprecedented 28 months. The U.S. economy is flooded with U.S. dollars and is close to overdosing on excess liquidity. The fact that our financial markets are not falling on the possibility of the Fed not unleashing QE3 immediately at the end of QE2, shows that we could be on the verge of hyperinflation with or without QE3.



The Federal Reserve currently has a mandate of both maintaining price stability and facilitating job creation. However, central banks don't have the ability to create real employment. If any jobs happen to be created as a result of a central bank's policies, they are only temporary jobs created due to the errors and distortions of phony asset bubbles. All phony asset bubbles that are fueled by monetary inflation eventually burst, sending unemployment through the roof.



Almost every major central bank besides the Federal Reserve, understands the truth about job creation, and has a mandate that focuses solely on keeping price inflation low. The Bank of Japan, Swiss National Bank, Bank of Canada, and Bank of New Zealand, all have mandates that are entirely about low inflation and don't even mention the creation of jobs or the rate of employment. Bernanke said on Wednesday that, "while it is very, very important for us to try to help the economy create jobs and to support the recovery, I think every central banker understands that keeping inflation low and stable is absolutely essential to a successful economy."



Bernanke has decided to go down a route that no central banker has ever gone before. Bernanke has literally invented countless ways to create inflation that nobody else has ever thought of. If keeping inflation low was ever Bernanke's slightest concern, the Fed Funds Rate would currently be north of 5% and the U.S. economy would be in a steep recession. Bernanke has never once thought about keeping inflation low. He has literally implemented every measure he could possibly think of to create as much inflation as possible, while outright lying to the American public and saying that he isn't printing money and that inflation is under control.



Bernanke would like the public to believe that his policies of expanding the money supply through cheap and easy money will cause the U.S. economy to recover and unemployment to decline back to pre-crisis levels, and that right before price inflation spirals out of control, he can raise interest rates and prevent massive price inflation without disrupting the recovery. Unfortunately, this is impossible because the recovery isn't real and massive price inflation is already here. Bernanke's policies may have created 1 million artificial jobs since December of 2009, after 8.75 million jobs were lost in the previous two years, but he did this at the expense of 310 million Americans already seeing double-digit percentage increases in food and energy prices.



Since after the Real Estate bubble burst in late-2008, the primary economic concern of Americans has been finding a stable job in order to make mortgage payments and put food on the table. Under the pressure of Congress, the Fed printed enough money to prevent a much needed recession that would be healthy for the long-term U.S. economy. In its attempt to reinflate the Real Estate bubble, the Fed has been destroying the free market and creating new economic distortions, which caused an artificial bounce in the rate of employment. Unfortunately, when you add together the money the Fed has either printed or committed for bailouts and stimulus programs, over $4 million has been spent for each job created. The Fed would have been better off just crediting the bank accounts of unemployed Americans with the average U.S. income.



When asked about rising gas prices, NIA is very happy that Chairman Bernanke acknowledged that gas prices "have risen quite significantly" and are "creating a great deal of financial hardship for a lot of people". Bernanke admitted that gas is a "necessity" as "people need to drive to work" for the artificial jobs Bernanke created at a cost of $4 million per job. However, Bernanke seemed to be confused when he said "higher gas prices add to inflation". The truth is, Bernanke's zero percent interest rates and quantitative easing are the inflation, and inflation leads to higher gas prices.



Bernanke is directly responsible for gas prices rising back to $3.87 per gallon, yet refuses to admit it. Bernanke placed the blame on the growing global and emerging market economies, and their strong demand for oil. He said that America's demand for oil is going down, which NIA believes is actually due to the U.S. dollar losing its purchasing power and Americans seeing their standard of living decline. Bernanke said there is nothing that he can do about rising oil and gas prices "without derailing growth entirely". The truth is, Bernanke already derailed growth entirely when he derailed the free market. It is impossible to see real economic growth when a government and central bank is interfering in every aspect of the economy and impeding the free market in every possible way. All nominal GDP growth in the U.S., along with growth in retail sales, is solely due to inflation. Even when the government adjusts GDP and retail sales growth to the rate of inflation, it is based off of the consumer price index, which NIA believes is currently understating price inflation by approximately 4%.



Although Bernanke denies he has the ability to reduce gas prices, he claims he can prevent "gas prices from passing into other prices and wages throughout the economy and creating a broader inflation which will be much more difficult to extinguish." Bernanke obviously doesn't want Americans to see higher wages because he believes it could lead to broader inflation, but NIA believes rising wages would be a good thing. Inflation hurts Americans most when the rate of inflation is far outpacing wage increases. The fact is, the U.S. is already experiencing broad inflation even without wage increases.



Bernanke's brand new favorite word as of late seems to be "transitory", which he used about a dozen times during his press conference. Despite what Bernanke says, NIA strongly believes that rising food and gas prices are not transitory. Bernanke likes the word "transitory" because he can use it to try and pretend that rising food and gas prices are only just a temporary phenomenon and that their current high levels aren't here to stay. Many Americans can remember the day 40 years ago when a can of Coca-Cola cost a dime and a Hershey chocolate bar cost a nickel, with a gallon of gas back then costing only thirty-five cents. Have rising food and gas prices over the past four decades been transitory?



NIA first predicted two years ago in its documentary 'Hyperinflation Nation', that rising food and gas prices would soon become the primary concern of all American citizens as a result of the Fed's dangerous and destructive monetary policies. Bernanke back then claimed that inflation would not be a problem and said that the U.S. risked deflation. If Bernanke has been so wrong about the inflation that Americans are faced with today, NIA doesn't see how anybody can possibly believe that Bernanke will be right and that current high food and gas prices aren't here to stay. In our opinion, the food and gas price inflation that Americans have experienced over the past 40 years, is likely to occur all over again during the next 4 years. NIA believes that 4 years from now, Americans will look back at the good old days of having cheap $4 a gallon gas.



The last thing the U.S. government wants is for the American public to realize that Bernanke is responsible for rising food and gas prices. If the public demanded to end the Federal Reserve, the government will no longer be able to spend recklessly knowing that the Fed will be there to monetize their deficit spending. In an attempt to make up excuses for rising gas prices and deflect attention away from the Fed, Congress has been pressuring the U.S. Attorney General to investigate the matter. Attorney General Eric Holder just announced the formation of the Oil & Gas Price Fraud Working Group. The stated purpose of this working group is to monitor the oil and gas markets for potential violations of criminal or civil laws to safeguard against unlawful consumer harm.



NIA considers this to be complete insanity. Any government interference in the oil markets will only drive oil prices up even higher. Oil prices are rising solely do to supply and demand. Demand is going through the roof because the Federal Reserve is creating a lot of inflation, and inflation always gravitates to the goods that Americans need the most to live and survive. Oil supplies are falling because President Obama has ordered U.S. troops to occupy Libya. In the past we at least made up excuses to invade countries like Iraq over oil by claiming they had weapons of mass destruction. Today, the U.S. government doesn't even bother. Obama campaigned as an anti-war President, saying he would bring our troops home from the middle-east. Instead, he has increased our middle-east troop levels, and the sheep who voted for him are showing absolutely no signs of outrage.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a very happy Easter. 

National Inflation Association's new email

Geithner Should Resign as Treasury Secretary




The biggest headline in the news so far this week has been S&P's decision to downgrade their U.S. credit outlook to negative. After S&P made their announcement, almost everybody in the mainstream media proclaimed it to be a "wake up call" for the U.S. government, saying that if they don't make a real effort to cut the budget deficit, a fiscal disaster awaits. Despite lowering the U.S. credit outlook to negative, S&P left the U.S. credit rating at AAA.



The real story in the media this week should be, how is it possible that the U.S. credit rating remains AAA? After all, AAA is the highest rating possible. Shouldn't a AAA credit rating be reserved for countries with budget surpluses, low levels of debt, and low levels of price inflation? Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was quick to say after S&P's announcement that there is "no risk" of the U.S. losing its AAA rating. NIA respectfully asks Mr. Geithner to resign from office for making those comments. How could there be "no risk" of the world's largest debtor nation losing its AAA rating?



As NIA first exposed in its critically acclaimed documentary 'Meltup', S&P, along with Moody's, rated mortgage-backed securities AAA during the mortgage crisis that didn't just decline in value, but went to zero. In our opinion, the credit ratings agencies have absolutely no credibility left and will be out of business in a few years. S&P and Moody's still rate U.S. debt AAA because they fear the negative backlash that would come immediately if they lowered its rating, which would undoubtedly include calls from members of Congress to take away their licenses to be ratings agencies in this country.



NIA believes the U.S. credit rating should be junk. Including unfunded liabilities and the backing of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, the U.S. currently has a real national debt that is five times higher than our GDP. There is no chance of the U.S. ever paying back its debts without printing the money and creating hyperinflation. There is no chance of the U.S. ever balancing its budget, without eliminating the so-called untouchable entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.



Our nation has reached a point where it is paying out 90% of the money it raises each month from the sales of U.S. treasuries, just to pay back the holders of maturing U.S. treasuries their principle and interest earned. The U.S. needs to continuously sell larger amounts of new debt, just to stay afloat, so there is no conceivable way that any unbiased organization can possibly give the U.S. a credit rating of AAA. The only reason we haven't defaulted on our debts is the Federal Reserve's ability to create monetary inflation and the world's willingness to hoard U.S. dollars due to its status as the world's reserve currency.



Despite the euro-zone debt crisis with nations like Greece defaulting on their debt, over the past ten years, the U.S. dollar has fallen from being 70.7% of foreign exchange reserves down to 61.4%, while the Euro has risen from being 19.8% of foreign exchange reserves up to 26.3%. The other currency category, which includes currencies like the Canadian dollar and Australian dollar, has risen during the past decade from 1.2% to 4.4%. The world is clearly diversifying out of the U.S. dollar.



Not only is the demand for dollars declining as a percentage of foreign exchange reserves, but there are now calls for our largest creditor nation China to reduce their total foreign exchange reserve holdings. China's foreign exchange reserves have increased by $200 billion this year to over $3 trillion and are mostly invested in U.S. dollars. Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said this week that, "Foreign exchange reserves have exceeded our country's rational demand, and too much accumulation has caused excessive liquidity in our markets, adding to the pressure of the central bank's sterilization." In other words, China is likely to begin selling their U.S. dollar reserves and accumulating real assets like gold and silver with this money. The biggest ever rally in precious metals is just around the corner, which means the U.S. dollar's purchasing power is about to plummet.



NIA constantly receives emails asking us if Paul Ryan's proposed budget were to be implemented instead of Obama's, would the U.S. be able to prevent hyperinflation. The truth is, both Obama's budget and Ryan's budget would leave us with just about the same national debt five years from now. The constant battles between the Democrats supporting Obama's budget and the Republicans supporting Ryan's budget are simply being used to distract Americans from the real issue, the Federal Reserve's monetization of our debt and the record $1.4 trillion in excess reserves that are currently parked at the Fed.



The Federal Reserve's balance sheet has just reached a record $2.65 trillion. However, excess reserves parked at the Fed are now rising even faster than the Fed's balance sheet. NIA believes that come later this year, the Federal Reserve is likely going to stop paying interest on excess reserves banks have parked at the Fed, in an effort to push this money into the economy. This high-powered money will multiply by as much as ten times as it circulates throughout the U.S. economy, increasing our money supply by $14 trillion. A rapid increase of our money supply by $14 trillion could potentially cause a run on the dollar, with the world rushing to dump their U.S. dollar reserves for just about any real asset they can get for them.



Inflation is beginning to spiral out of control even by the U.S. government's artificially low calculations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported that the consumer price index (CPI) rose in March by 2.68% over a year ago, compared to the February increase of 2.11% and the November increase of 1.1%. Year-over-year CPI increases have risen 144% since November as a direct result of the Fed's destructive policies, yet the Fed continues to say that inflation is not a problem. Even though inflation is now way above the Fed's informal inflation target of 1.5% to 2%, the Fed continues to ignore the CPI and only looks at core-CPI, which excludes food and energy and is mainly based off of rents. All gains in U.S. retail sales are now solely due to inflation and all U.S. economic growth is phony. Any temporary decline in the unemployment rate is only a result of the distortions caused by the Fed's printing of money.



Gold has just surpassed $1,500 per ounce and silver has now broken $45 per ounce. These latest movements in gold and silver prices indicate that there is a major risk of hyperinflation breaking out as soon as the second half of 2011. Average U.S. gas prices are now $3.84 per gallon and are rapidly approaching the all time high of $4.12 per gallon from June of 2008. Unlike 2008, there are no leveraged up hedge funds buying oil futures contracts today. Oil prices are rising as a direct result of the Federal Reserve's zero percent interest rates and quantitative easing. Unless the Federal Reserve acts now to dramatically raise interest rates, $5 per gallon gas is possible by the end of 2011.



When gas prices reach $5 per gallon, there won't be a drop off in demand. It will only encourage the Federal Reserve to print more money so that Americans can afford $5 per gallon gas, which could push gas prices to $6 or $7 per gallon in 2012. Saudi Arabia is reducing oil production because they have to, their oil reserves have been overstated by 40% and they are past peak oil production. As bad as rising gas prices are for all Americans, they will be hurt by rising food prices even more. Inventories of gas are not as tight as food inventories, which are now at record lows for such agricultural commodities as corn. NIA has been warning about low agriculture inventories since its first documentary 'Hyperinflation Nation' and accurately predicted this past year's record rise in agricultural commodity prices in its October 30th, 2009, article "U.S. Inflation to Appear Next in Food and Agriculture".



NIA predicts the next major inflation crisis will be in college tuition prices. We are about to experience a record rise in student loan defaults as a result of rapidly rising food and gas prices. College tuitions are the one area of the U.S. economy, besides healthcare, that did not experience any decline during the financial crisis of 2008. Despite rapidly rising college tuition prices, the value of a college degree is declining at an even faster rate. NIA believes that by the year 2020, we will conservatively see 20% of American colleges and universities close its doors with enrollments in remaining colleges and universities declining by between 15% and 30%. NIA will expose the facts and truth about the upcoming American college education crisis in its upcoming documentary, 'College Conspiracy'. We are almost done producing 'College Conspiracy' and will be releasing more information about the hour long movie in the days and weeks to come.



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

Common Sense Tip #1

When drying bras and underwear hang them up to dry.  This will make the elastic last a much longer time as heat degrades elastic. 

Eating fresh food drastically reduces BPA levels

http://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-home-living/eating-fresh-food-drastically-reduces-bpa-levels-study-finds.aspx?newsletter=1&utm_content=04.11.11+HE&utm_campaign=HE&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

US companies shrink packages

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/market-news/u-s-companies-shrink-packages-as-food-prices-rise/19897911/

New kitchen things from Westelm

Take a look at some of the new kitchen items Westelm has on its site









Now if that doesnt whet your appetite for new stuff for the kitchen nothing will ;)  And some of it is on sale with free shipping. 

http://www.westelm.com/ 

Talk to ya later!

Denise

Herbs

Way of the Herbal Ninja: Using 17 Herbs You Already Have in the Kitchen

NIA email excerpt...

The CEO of Wal-Mart is now saying that U.S. inflation is “going to be very serious” and that Wal-Mart is already seeing “cost increases starting to come through at a pretty rapid rate.” He predicts that because of huge increases in raw material costs, along with soaring labor costs in China, and skyrocketing fuel costs around the world, retail prices will start increasing at Wal-Mart and all of their competitors in June, especially for clothing and food.




When asked about the predictions of Wal-Mart's CEO, Bernanke said that he expects price pressures to remain largely stable, but then added, "Wal-Mart has more data than the government does." Bernanke was also quoted as saying, "We have to monitor inflation and inflation expectations extremely closely because if my assumptions prove not to be correct, then we would certainly have to respond to that and ensure that we maintain price stability.”

New National Inflation Association email

NIA Responds to Harvard Economics Professor About Inflation




Harvard economics professor Gregory Mankiw wrote an article that was published in the NY Times yesterday entitled, "It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due". In this article, Mankiw gave a hypothetical Presidential address the President of the U.S. might make in the year 2026 after a failed bond auction. Mankiw's hypothetical Presidential address takes place in a scenario where in the year 2026, the U.S. Treasury "tried to auction its most recent issue of government bonds" but "almost no one was buying." According to Mankiw's hypothetical speech, during this 2026 crisis the President will admit, "The private market will lend us no more."



Unfortunately, Professor Mankiw fails to understand that the U.S. has zero chance of surviving until the year 2026. What Mankiw predicts will happen 15 years from now is already happening today right under his nose, but somehow he fails to realize it.



The public today has already stopped buying U.S. treasuries. The Pimco Total Return Fund, which was the largest private holder of U.S. government bonds, has just reduced their holdings down to zero. The private sector was buying 30% of U.S. treasuries, but today is no longer buying at all. The Federal Reserve is currently buying 70% of U.S. treasuries. If it wasn't for the Federal Reserve buying U.S. treasuries, we would already be experiencing failed bond auctions today.



According to Mankiw, the President will say in 2026, "Today, most of the large baby-boom generation is retired. They are no longer working and paying taxes, but they are eligible for the many government benefits we offer the elderly." The fact is, the last baby-boomer turned 46 years old in 2010 and 46 is the age in which the average American reaches peak consumer spending. Therefore, even though most baby-boomers might not be retired, baby-boomer spending is now in free-fall while baby-boomers are simultaneously signing up for entitlement programs at record pace. This will begin to affect our economy today, not 15 years from now.



Mankiw's hypothetical speech has the President admitting in 2026 that we "have to cut Social Security immediately, especially for higher-income beneficiaries. Social Security will still keep the elderly out of poverty, but just barely" and we "have to limit Medicare and Medicaid. These programs will still provide basic health care, but they will no longer cover many expensive treatments. Individuals will have to pay for these treatments on their own or, sadly, do without." The truth is, if the U.S. government cut 100% of all spending except for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, we would still have a budget deficit from these entitlement programs and interest payments on our debt alone. If the U.S. wants to prevent hyperinflation and survive until 2026, we need to make major cuts to these programs today. By 2026, it will be over a decade too late and these programs will no longer exist at all.



Mankiw's hypothetical 2026 Presidential address goes on to say that "over the last several years" the U.S. has experienced a "vicious circle of rising budget deficits" and "as the ratio of our debt to gross domestic product reached ever-higher levels, investors started getting nervous". Does Mankiw realize that the U.S. just reported a budget deficit for the month of February 2011 of $222.5 billion, more than the entire fiscal year of 2007? In our opinion, our budget deficits can't rise much more viciously than what they already are today, without the U.S. experiencing an outbreak of hyperinflation. We need to begin sharply reducing our deficits immediately or else hyperinflation this decade is inevitable.



Our real debt to GDP ratio in the U.S. today is already north of 500% when you include unfunded liabilities for entitlement programs, as well as other commitments like the backing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It will simply be impossible for this figure to rise much higher without the U.S. experiencing hyperinflation. NIA believes that unless the U.S. government completely eliminated Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, there is no way the U.S. government will be able to stay afloat for another 15 years with such an unprecedented level of debt.



In 2026, Mankiw believes the President will admit that, "Our efforts to control health care costs have failed." He suggests the President will proclaim that, "We must now acknowledge that rising costs are driven largely by technological advances in saving lives. These advances are welcome, but they are expensive nonetheless." Does Professor Mankiw own a laptop computer, plasma TV, or mobile phone? These technologies are improving by leaps and bounds yet prices are falling. Technological advances are not driving health care costs higher! It is the government's involvement in the health care sector and their failure to allow the free market to operate that is driving health care costs through the roof.



Professor Mankiw believes the President will continue by saying, "We have to cut health insurance subsidies to middle-income families." NIA believes it is the very same subsidies Mankiw is referring to that are driving health care costs sky high. It is just like in the college education industry. If the government didn't provide subsidies for students to learn voodoo Keynesian economic theories from professors like Mankiw, college tuitions would be a lot more affordable.



To solve this supposed 2026 crisis, Mankiw believes the President will announce, "We will raise taxes on all but the poorest Americans. We will do this primarily by broadening the tax base, eliminating deductions for mortgage interest and state and local taxes. Employer-provided health insurance will hereafter be taxable compensation." Although NIA believes employer-provided health insurance should be taxable compensation because it would end the employer based health insurance system and make health insurance cheaper for all Americans, we believe it will be impossible for the government to raise any additional revenues from tax increases. We are at a point where any additional taxes will drive economic activity overseas and result in less tax receipts. When hyperinflation soon arrives, taxes will become irrelevant. The government will fund over 99% of its spending by printing money and less than 1% from taxation.



Mankiw also believes the President in 2026 will, "increase the gasoline tax by $2 a gallon. This will not only increase revenue, but will also address various social ills, from global climate change to local traffic congestion." Come 2026, gasoline will probably cost $20,000 per gallon, if we are lucky. An additional $2 gasoline tax will be absolutely pointless and meaningless.



Mankiw suggests that the President in 2026 will, "secure from the I.M.F. a temporary line of credit to help us through this crisis." The I.M.F. recently sold a large percentage of its gold reserves and by 2026 will likely be broke. Even if the I.M.F. was still around 15 years from now and did provide the U.S. with a line of credit that helps it survive the crisis, the largest line of credit the I.M.F. could possibly financially provide would only support a U.S. government that is less than 1/10 of its size today. Therefore, NIA believes the U.S. government should begin dramatically reducing its size immediately, before it is in need of a line of credit from the I.M.F.



It would be nice to think that the U.S. will be able to borrow and print money for another 15 years to fund endless budget deficits and that 2026 is some magical year when all of our debts will come due. The economy does not work this way and it is disgraceful that our nation's most prestigious ivy league schools are teaching such dangerous economic principles. Considering that a large percentage of our highest ranking government officials graduated from Harvard, it really explains a lot when you look at who is teaching economics at Harvard. Mankiw is the same professor who in April of 2009 called for the Federal Reserve to implement negative interest rates. Mankiw called for savers to be punished and for all Americans with $100,000 in the bank to have only $98,000 one year later.



It is the destructive Keynesian theories of economists like Mankiw that have gotten the U.S. economy into the dire situation it is in today. Mankiw and other professors like him are brainwashing American students into believing that forcing people to spend is the key to a healthy economy and the way to solve all economic problems is to create a lot of inflation. All across America, students are graduating colleges with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, no jobs, and no idea of how the economy actually works. They will spend the rest of their lives paying off their debts and trying to get the false economic information they were taught out of their heads. The college education system in America is the single largest fraud that exists today, and NIA is going to expose the truth about the government's conspiracy to turn American students into debt slaves in our next feature documentary, coming in April.



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

TEDxAustin Robyn O'Brien 2011

Eggs, Chickens, Gardening and Crafting....

Here are two eggs that our chicks laid.  The one on the right is large...

Here are the same two eggs showing how large they actually are against a dollar.

And here it is in the frying pan.  The larger ones seem to be more watery and not double yolkers.  We havent had any double yolkers in a while.

More egg pics. 

And here is the biggest one we have had yet.  Ouch that must have hurt coming out!

Here are our tomatoes and peppers under the grow light.  You're not supposed to look at the light and of course I kept looking at it so covered it with a couple of napkins.  Makes the dining room look kinda psychodelic....

This is Lettie!

This is DH with Lucy.  She likes to poke him in the bum and fly up on his shoulder.

This is a close up of Lucy.

This is the clothes basket I made from clothesline and 1" strips of cloth.  Didnt think I would ever get it done.  I used a little over 100 feet of clothesline and at least 6-7 yards of cloth.  It works really well.  It is much easier to carry out the back door since it is so flexible and you can actually reach the doorknob which was kind of hard before to do.

Here is another pic.  I used a lot of different colors.

Here is the bottom.  Not too pleased with it but it held quite a bit of wet laundry so it turned out OK.  Starting the basket was the hardest part and I just continued to weave it when I watched TV at night for a few hours.  All in all it was a good project and easy to do.  I had some left over clothesline and started another basket (really small one).  If I do another clothes basket I think I will use thicker cord because this was on the thin side and if it is thicker you wouldnt have to do so many rounds.  Thicker cording means thicker fabric strips as well.

Here is DH with the new and improved Chicken run and if you look real close you can see Lucy is on his back/shoulder.  We planted some of our garden.  You can see DH's experimental plots behind him.  He planted oats, alfalfa and clover for the chicks to graze on this summer.  Our garden (not for chickens) has potatoes, walking onions, garlic, beets, peas, cabbage, swiss chard, and collard greens.  Now we are wondering if we should have waited cause we have been having major rainstorms here.  Hoping the seed doesnt rot in the ground.  We had a bit of a heat wave a couple of weeks ago but since then it's been colder.  Even had to cover our blueberries, raspberries and grapes because we got a hard frost.  Luckily I have plenty of pieces of fabric for the job.  Told hubby he didnt know how lucky he was to have a wife with so much fabric LOL. 

Talk to ya later!

Denise